Kids From the Future?
by Somepersonoutthere
Summary: After a misunderstood request made by the Guardian of the Master Emerald, Sonic and friend's kids come to the present! Can they get back to the future before their actions in the present time bring awful consequences to their own time?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! Well, my new story has been published at last! It's been in my head for a while, and I want to get it out. Now it's here. Here's the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs and the idea for this fic. I don't own SEGA, Sonic Team, or any characters and ideas belonging to either company.**

**Well, here's the story! Enjoy!  
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**IMPORTANT NOTE: Okay, people. For some reason, when I went back to fix an error in the story, this chapter got deleted. I saved it nowhere (a bad idea on my part), and now I have to write it all over again. Please forgive me if it's not exactly like the original. I'm trying the best I can.**

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* * *

**On a cool afternoon on Angel Island, a young echidna stared at the Master Emerald in awe. His black and red sneakers slightly sunk into the ground like it was mud. The peach-orange stripes stood out against his crimson fur, but they looked darker in the dim light of the setting sun. The one thing that truly stood out was the white crescent on his chest, which seemed to practically glow with significance.

Fifteen years the young echidna had spent on the island, and he still couldn't believe that he had been born to someone with such an honorable position as protecting the powerful gem. True, he was proud of his position, but...

He looked behind him at another echidna, one that was obviously older than him, one he knew well. This other echidna... he would have to die in order for the younger one to take over. But his elder had been there all his life. He had been a wonderful teacher, leader, father... he wouldn't know what to do if he left.

Thinking about his family lineage caused him to think of his mother. Or, at least, what he thought his mother looked like. He had never known who his mother was. His father had never told him.

"You were a gift from the Master Emerald," he'd say whenever the young echidna questioned whom his mother was. "You were given to me so you could take my position when I die. The same thing will happen to you unless you find someone to have children with, unlike me. This sort of thing happens all the time, really."

_What a lie,_ the teen thought to himself. _I have a mother. Everyone does. It's a part of life._

He continued to stare at the Master Emerald. The jewel had great powers. It could see through the barriers of time, travel through the vacuums of space... and more.

His violet eyes took on a determined gleam, and he spoke to the emerald.

"Oh, great and powerful Master Emerald, take us to the ones who bore us into this world. Take us to the ones who produced us, so that we may see who they are. That is my request."

The emerald was still for a moment, and the echidna thought for a moment that the gem hadn't understood him. But then, the radiant light the gem emitted began to grow brighter and brighter, until it surrounded and blinded him. He fell to his knees, shielding his eyes from the great brightness. Then, suddenly, it was gone.

The echidna opened his eyes. Right away, he knew something had changed.

The sky told him that it was no longer close to dusk, but midday. The air, he noticed, was slightly warmer than a few seconds ago, but he supposed that was only because it was earlier in the day.

He didn't feel any different. Looking from side to side, he realized that nothing much had changed.

He sighed. He had hoped that the Master Emerald would take him right to his mother. And by saying the word "us" rather than only "I," the gem would have taken his father with him, and he would have been able to confront him.

He looked all around him, and noticed there was another echidna sleeping nearby. This echidna... it looked so much like his father, only younger...

Horrified, the teen realized what he had done. This wasn't what he wanted - and yet the Master Emerald had given it to him. Why?

Sighing, he sat down. His only hope right then was that he would be able to fix this before something awful happened.

* * *

The three young hedgehogs sat perfectly still. It was obvious that the older two were trying to figure out what had just happened. Their heads were swiveling from side to side, taking in their surroundings.

The oldest of the three was a girl. She had green eyes and blue fur that seemed identical to the color of the sky. Bang-like fur popped out from her forehead, and rested between her jade eyes. Her blue t-shirt was almost the same color as her skirt, and her blue boots had a single white stripe cutting through their middles. Her white gloves tightly clutched a small bundle that rested in her arms.

The younger hedgehog looked almost exactly like his sister, only more... boyish. The only clothes he wore were the red tennis shoes on his feet and the pure white gloves on his hands. Also, rather than having green eyes, his were a bright sapphire color, always seeming to gleam with mischief.

The third hedgehog was the small sleeping bundle in the girl's arms, and he was different from his siblings. He looked much like his siblings, but his fur was red rather than blue. The infant opened his eyes, no longer sleeping, revealing their turquoise color.

Although the infant was content, the other two immediately realized that something was wrong. The day had seemed to turn back in time - as had everything else. Where were their things? Where were their parents? And why did the sky suddenly turn blue? They had only been running outside to play when a bright light blinded them. The next thing they knew, everything was... well, different.

"What just happened, Justice?" the younger blue hedgehog asked his sister.

Justice looked at her brother, obviously just as confused as he was. "I don't know, Dash. But don't worry - we'll find out soon enough."

The baby began to make loud babbling noises from his sister's arms. He began to squirm, and reached for Justice's face.

"Go back to sleep Tyler," Justice cooed. "We're going to find Mommy and Daddy and figure out what's up, okay?"

Just then, the opening and closing of a door was heard. Justice and Dash whirled around to see a young pink hedgehog walking out of a pink house. She froze when she saw the three hedgehogs.

"Um..." She examined the strange children. She had never seen them before - what were they doing on her sidewalk? "Can I help you?"

Dash breathed a sigh of relief. In satisfaction, he uttered a single word: "Mom..."

* * *

High above an ocean, a young girl flew a large gray and blue plane. Her large blue eyes were even wider with bewilderment. Her gloved hands were tightly clutching the controls, and her yellow flowered flip-flops were dangling from her feet, which were frozen in a raised position. Her fur was a pale orange color, and was covered in tiny dots that were a darker orange. Bang-like fur sprouted from her forehead as well, and huge rabbit ears hung from the back of her head. However, she was not fully a rabbit, as her bushy fox tail proved. She wore a yellow dress covered in pictures of blossoms and fruits on tree branches

The girl blinked a few times, then shook her head frantically. She stared out the window, taking in the blue sky that was supposed to be orange. Why had the day suddenly gone back a few hours? Did it have something to do with the bright light that had enveloped her moments ago?

She looked to her left, where she should have seen her father flying beside her in his own plane. When she saw that he wasn't there, she sighed. Perhaps he had turned back when he realized that something was wrong. Deciding to do the same, she turned her plane in the opposite direction it had been flying, heading back towards her father's workshop.

Lowering her plane, she pressed a button that opened the glass dome that surrounded her, exposing herself to the outside. The strong wind whipped around her, causing her ears to flap wildly. She laughed and stood up, loving the feeling of the air rushing past her.

Not too far ahead, the sea gave way to emerald green grass resting atop a ledge that stretched for miles in width. The girl recognized the lone building at the cliff's edge, and she made the necessary preparations to land on the stretch of roadway leading up to it.

When her plane touched the ground and screeched to a halt, she hopped out of her seat, the glass dome closing behind her. The girl hurried to the door of the building, throwing it open happily.

"Hey, Dad!" she called. "It's Clementine! Are you here?"

The only other person in the room was a young two-tailed fox, who was obviously confused by Clementine's arrival. "Uh... no... Who are you?"

Clementine blinked a few times before crossing her arms defiantly. "Who am I? The better question is, who are _you_? And what are you doing in my dad's workshop?"

* * *

In one of the many dark alleyways of a city, a hedgebat hid in the shadows, unnoticed by any passersby. This wasn't hard for her, though - the white streaks on her jet-black quills were the only things that truly stood out on her, but she made sure they were out of sight. Her black vest shielded her torn black t-shirt from being destroyed any more than it already was. Around her black shorts was a gray utility belt, which obviously held things of importance. Her black boots had the same red pattern as her fingerless black gloves. Clearly, she was fond of black.

Her ruby eyes scanned her surroundings for the fifth time. She was still confused as to how she got to that specific spot. One minute, she was flying through the air, heading for a jewelry store. She had heard the specific store was holding a rather large diamond, and she knew how proud her mother would be if she got a hold of it.

However, a bright flash of light blinded her and caused her to stop and hang in mid-air. When it was gone, daytime had come once again. The city had changed, as well - some shops she knew were ages old or even closed down looked like new. The streets were no longer bustling with people - only about ten people could be seen on each block. To avoid being seen, she dove into an alleyway as fast as she could, putting her in her current position.

Treasure hunters like her had to hide. Her mother had taught her how to go unseen, how to take things and leave no trace. She was proud to be the daughter of a great treasure hunter. The duo was unstoppable.

However, the girl did have an ambition other than just steal gems for... whatever reason her mother stole gems. In all the thirteen years she had lived, she had never heard a word about who her own father was. Her mother had never told her, and she never thought to ask. The topic had gone untouched by both of them. However, she had always hoped that someday he would show up. She would probably know what he looked like - obviously, he was an ebony hedgehog. Where else did her dark fur and quills come from? And were their eyes the same? Her mother didn't have red eyes as far as she knew... In fact, no one she knew had red eyes. How was she going to find the one person who gave her red eyes?

_Well, Luna,_ she thought to herself, _what are you going to do now? Mom's not around, and you _know_ you don't want to just sit and hide all day..._

Smiling to herself, she looked to the sky in thought. _Who cares what she says? __You don't have to hide. In fact, maybe you should look for Dad. It'll be easier without Mom around, anyway. Remember: black fur, red eyes._

Luna sprung from her hiding place into the air, bouncing off the walls surrounding her to get higher, gaining speed as she went. When she was no longer in the dark crevasse, she spread her bat wings, her entire body like a piece of the night sky that had emerged and placed itself in the daytime instead. Beating her wings to stay up, she flew deeper into the city, her ruby-colored eyes already picking out people on the ground.

* * *

Smack-dab in the middle of a small grove of trees, a young girl of about twelve floated in a cerulean glow. Her amber eyes darted from side to side, wide with fright. All of her fur was white, even her muzzle, with the exception of her lilac-tipped quills and cat tail. Her forehead featured a strange white quill design, and each quill also had a lilac tip. She wore a light gray cloak that dipped and fell around her right leg. Her light gray pants were tight, and disappeared into her gray and white boots. Her gloves were cut to expose a design on her hands that glowed the same shade of light blue as the glow all around her body.

Slowly and unsteadily, she lowered herself to the ground as she tried to make sense out of what had just happened to her. On minute, she was talking to her friends, minding her own business. All of a sudden, her friends were panicking at a bright light that was surrounding her. The next thing she knew, her friends were gone. She was all alone.

"Great," she muttered to herself, sitting at the base of a tree. "Just great. I'm in the middle of nowhere without even knowing how I got here. Plus, I haven't got a speck of anything that could be considered camouflage on my entire body, so anything that would want to kill me for some reason could see me for miles."

Suddenly, a burst of flame erupted from her hand, causing her to jump. Horrified, she began to stomp on the flames, but that only seemed to make matters worse.

As a last resort, she thrust out her hand, hoping to capture the flame. Instead, the blue glow was wrapped around the tree instead, and it came crashing down as she tried to pull the flame away. When she realized the tree was going to fall on top of her, she leaped out of the way just before it could make contact with her.

Just when she was beginning to panic, a large amount of water seemed to come from out of nowhere. The water was wrapped around the tree, dousing the flames so the tree was nothing more than charred wood and leaves.

"Are you trying to start a forest fire or something?" a voice asked her sternly. "You need to be more careful, Aithne. I know you don't use your powers much, but you've got to learn to control them. Someone could get seriously hurt!"

Aithne whirled around to face a male copy of her. The boy looked almost exactly like her, with every detail matched up, from the design of their quills to the markings on the sides of their eyes. The only differences were their attire, and the fact that he was taller and, of course, a boy. He wore a dark gray trench coat and lighter gray pants that covered up about half of his gray and white sneakers. His gloves were also cut to reveal a cerulean design on his hands identical to Aithne's.

"Arick!" Aithne beamed at her twin. "Thanks for that. What are you doing here?"

Arick crossed his arms. "Well, if you got transported to some weird place by a light bulb, you'd be searching for your siblings, too, wouldn't you?"

"You saw the light too, didn't you?"

"Of course I did." He began to walk away. "Now, come on. We're going to find out what's going on."

Aithne followed her brother with a small sigh. "Okay... Why is my life so _weird_?"

* * *

**And there you have it! The first chapter! I hope it's good. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to R&R!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here it is! The next chapter! I hope you like!**

* * *

Knuckles opened his eyes, somewhat groggy from his slumber. He slowly stood up, shaking his head to wake up a bit more. Coming to full consciousness, he decided to do a full inspection of the island. After all, someone could have snuck onto the island while he was asleep.

He turned around, expecting to see his bright, beautiful emerald in the glory of the high sun. Instead, he found something else.

He saw exactly that. But he also saw an echidna about his age gawking at him as if he were a ghost.

Knuckles blinked, rubbed his eyes, and blinked again. "What the…who are you?"

The echidna bowed his head in respect, sending feelings of awkwardness to Knuckles. "My name is Crash," he replied. "I'm not from this time. I asked the Master Emerald to take me to my mother, but it brought me back in time instead. It was a misunderstanding, and I just want some answers."

Knuckles was shocked. An echidna from the future? How strange. He held out his hand in greeting. "My name is-"

"Knuckles," Crash said, smiling. "I know. It's a long story."

Confused, Knuckles drew his hand back. Just then, he saw something…different on Crash.

"Oh my God…you have the white crescent on your chest!" He gaped at it alarmingly. "But…that means…"

Crash's face dropped. "Yes. I am the next Guardian of the Master Emerald. You are my father."

Knuckles put a hand on his head, dizzy from the news that had come so suddenly. This was such a shock to him. He couldn't have a son. He didn't even have a girlfriend.

"Dad? Are you okay?" Crash reached out to Knuckles, who promptly fainted on the spot.

He sighed in annoyance. "Oh, Dad…and you say that you can handle anything."

* * *

Amy drew back in alarm at the three strange children in her front lawn. Did that boy just call her 'Mom'?

"I'm sorry," she replied hesitantly. "I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else. Now tell me, where did you last see your mom?" They were in _her_ lawn. She might as well help them get home.

The oldest one, the girl, frowned. "What are you talking about? You -"

Tyler let out a squeal, stretching his arms out towards Amy. Fully awake, he obviously wanted Amy. He began to writhe in Justice's arms, trying to get out.

Amy quickly ran over to the three. "Oh, how cute!" She cooed, tickling Tyler's chin. "He's adorable - OW!" Tyler grabbed Amy's nose and pulled it closer. "LET GO!"

Justice laughed at Amy's expense. "You don't think he wouldn't recognize his own mother, do you?"

Amy shook her face out of Tyler's grasp. "Look, I'm not your mom! Now, if you would just -"

"Your Piko Piko hammer is your weapon of choice."

Amy stared at Dash incredulously. "Wh…what?" She had never seen these children before, yet they knew _that_? No one who didn't know her knew that.

Dash continued, looking at Amy solemnly. "You have a club for girls to help them stay away from bullies. You like learning things. You don't like to talk about your weight. You -"

"Okay, that's enough!" Amy interrupted, silencing the boy. Narrowing her eyes, she took him by the hand and signaled for Justice to follow her. "I'm going to Sonic! He'll know what's going on!"

Justice smiled. "Sure, Mom. Let's go to Dad for help. I'm sure he can explain _everything_."

She could have sworn Amy walked faster after that comment.

* * *

Tails dropped his wrench in surprise. "Your dad's workshop? This is my workshop!"

Clementine walked further into the workshop, closer to the confused kitsune. "No way! I've been going to this workshop ever since I was a baby!" She pointed to a shelf littered with tools. "There's a picture of my family on that shelf somewhere. I'll find it and show you!" She ran over to the shelf and began rummaging through everything.

"Listen," Tails said angrily. "I don't know who you are, but - hey! You're a hybrid!" Noticing her fox tail, he came up beside her. "Wow! I've never met a hybrid!"

Clementine smiled. "Yep! I'm part fox, part rabbit. But I think you figured that out on your own." Looking back at the counter, she frowned. "I can't find it…I know it's here."

"Well, whatever you're looking for, I know it's not here. This is my workshop, and it always has been." Tails looked his strange new friend over, fascinated by the fact that she was indeed a hybrid. "How did you get here, anyway?"

Clementine's face lit up. "I flew! Well, I can fly with my ears, but I flew here on my plane." She grabbed Tails by the hand and ran him out the door. "Come on! I'll show you!" She sped over to the gray and blue plane that rested on the runway in front of the small building.

"You have a plane, too?" Tails asked, tracing his finger along its wave-like designs. "What's it called?"

"It's called the Hurricane," Clementine replied. "I made it, with the help of my dad. He's a real genius. I learned almost everything I know from him!"

Tails gawked at it admiringly. "You and your dad built this on your own? But…it's so advanced!"

"Oh, I don't know. It's really nothing special." She turned to him, her large blue eyes level to his. "By the way, I never got your name. I think you already know, but I'm Clementine. Who're you?"

"I'm Miles, but everyone calls me Tails."

Clementine froze. Her expression was that of disbelief. She seemed to be incapable of speech at the moment.

"Uh…are you okay?" Tails asked worriedly. "You look kinda…"

"You…your name is Miles…your name is Tails…you have two tails?"

He gestured to his tails, which he brought to his front. "Well, yeah. Why else would everyone call me Tails?"

"But…but…" she lifted a finger in shock. "That's my dad's name! He has two tails, too!"

* * *

**The chapter ends here. I hope you liked it, even though Luna, Aithne, and Arick weren't in it. I promise they'll be in the next chapter. R&R, please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the next chapter. I hope you like it!**

* * *

Crash sat by his father while he was unconscious, taking peeks at the Master Emerald every so often. Knuckles awoke after about fifteen minutes, a dazed expression on his face.

"Ugh…man…" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "What a nightmare…"

Crash laughed. "Sorry, Dad," he said as Knuckles jerked his head to the side to see him. "You're not getting away from me that easily."

"But…this is impossible…" Knuckles slowly stood up. "I can't have a kid…"

"I've just come here to find out who my mom is," Crash said innocently. "You do know, don't you? You know, the sooner I get an answer, the sooner I can leave."

Knuckles seemed to brighten up at this, but his face fell when he realized that he had no answer. "Sorry, but I have no idea."

Crash smiled devilishly. "Well, I guess I'll be staying then," he replied. "I can keep you company. And you look like you need some help."

Knuckles was appalled. "Help? I don't need any help! Now, go back to where you came from."

Crash sighed and rolled his eyes. "I am where I cam from. Right here is my home."

"...No," he drew closer to his son, a murderous look in his eyes. "I know what you're trying to do."

Crash was thrown off at this statement and his father's sudden change in attitude. "What? I told you, I only want to know who my mom is!"

Knuckles snorted in disbelief. "No, you're here because you want the Master Emerald! That white crescent is fake! You just want me to believe you and trust you. Then, you want to make off with my emerald when I least expect it! That's it, isn't it?"

Crash could not believe his father's stupidity. "Dad, listen. You're supposed to be the only echidna of...this time, aren't you?"

Knuckles nodded hesitantly, wondering where he was going with this. "That has nothing to do with whether or not you're my son."

Crash rolled his eyes. "So, if I wasn't your descendant, would I even be here? And besides, the birthmark is real."

Knuckles slowly drew back. He did have a point. "Well…if you're my son, you know a bunch of people I do. Who is the cocky guy that I'm always fighting with?"

Crash grinned. "That's easy. Sonic the Hedgehog. He's blue, runs super fast, and is the father of Justice, Dash, and Tyler."

Knuckles stared at him for a minute before bursting out laughing. "Wow…Sonic's got psychos on him, too!"

Crash frowned. "Tails is a geeky fox with two tails and the pilot of the Tornados, Rouge is a weird bat who keeps trying to steal the Master Emerald, Blaze is a cat who can, frankly, be a pain in the butt sometimes -"

"That's enough!" Knuckles silenced Crash, but his face showed realization. "Maybe you are my son. You even think like I do!"

* * *

Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive, cheerfully dashed through a forest of the planet he called home. He had been running freely, without a care in the world. He would have kept going, had a voice not stopped him in his tracks.

"SONIC!" Amy Rose's shout pounded against his eardrums. He skidded to a stop, seeing Amy's angry face staring back at his when he stopped his speed run.

"Hey, Amy," Sonic said nervously. "Well, I can honestly say that I have never seen your face like this when you meet up with me. What's wrong?"

Amy was not in the mood for games. "Care to explain this?" She asked, gesturing to the three hedgehogs behind her.

Sonic waved at them. "Hi! I'm Sonic! But I think you already know that." He turned back to Amy. "So? They're just a bunch of kids. What's the big deal?"

Amy pulled the three up closer to them. "They keep telling me that I'm their mom, and you're their dad. Is this some kind of sick joke?" She drew out a Piko-Piko hammer. "WELL?"

Sonic put his hand in front of his face. "Whoa there, Amy! I have nothing to do with this! I swear! And besides, you don't even know that what they're saying is true."

"But it's true!" Justice interrupted defensively. "We really are your kids!"

Sonic moved closer to the three. "Oh yeah?"

Amy turned to the three children, lowering her mallet. "Tell him!"

Dash stared at his father. "Where's Uncle Tails?"

Sonic blinked in surprise. "That's good enough for me! But...this feels...awkward. Yeah."

Justice tilted her head to one side. "I think I know what happened."

"What?" Sonic and Amy asked simultaneously, eager to hear what she had to say.

"Chaos Control happened. And we got sent back in time or something. You're our parents, but you're…different versions, I guess." She smiled as Tyler's face lit up at the sight of Sonic. "I think I know who can help us." She looked up at Sonic and Amy. "Now, which one of you can take us to Angel Island?"

* * *

"Your dad's name?" Tails asked in surprise. "But that's impossible! I'm the only fox on this whole planet with two tails!"

Clementine lowered her eyes. "Possibly. But this can only mean one thing - you're my dad!"

Tails shook his head. "Sorry, but I can't possibly be. I'm only eight."

Clementine crossed her arms. "Oh yeah? Ask me anything. I bet you I can answer whatever you throw at me."

Tails scratched his head. "Okay, I guess that's an okay way to determine this. What am I afraid of?"

Clementine smirked. "Lightning and ghosts," she answered simply. "I think it's funny."

Ignoring the comment, Tails continued. "Who's my best friend?"

"Uncle Sonic."

"What planes do I own?"

"The three Tornados. But the first one is technically Uncle Sonic's."

"Who are my enemies?"

"Lots of people. Eggman, Metal Sonic, and you've got a bunch of friends and rivals, too."

"Oh my God…you really are my kid!"

Clementine grinned in triumph. "I told you! Now, we need to go to someone who knows how to deal with this situation…"

"I got it!" Tails shouted. "The Master Emerald can help! It knows everything!"

Clementine brightened up. "You're right! It can tell us what's going on!" She jumped into the air, flapping her huge ears to stay up. "Now come on!"

Clementine flew off as Tails began twirling his tails, taking off into the air. As he flew with the girl, he began to wonder who exactly the rabbit he had his future daughter with was.

* * *

Luna flew over the city, scanning the crowds below. So far, she had seen no one who could possibly be related to her. Her spikes, designed in an upward curving fashion (except the one that went from the top of her head down) matched none of the hedgehogs she had seen so far. There was no sign of her mother, either.

She couldn't believe herself. _Is this what you've come to? You're supposed to be a master thief, a skilled treasure hunter. What would Mom have wanted you to do? She would have wanted you to keep getting jewels, that's what! And here you are, looking for a father that probably doesn't even care that you exist. _

Then, she had an idea. _Mom's always wanted the Master Emerald. If she's on a long mission, she's bound to be getting that!_

Luna stopped flying for a split second. _I should go to Angel Island. She'll be there, I can feel it! _

Luna would have continued flying, but something stopped her.

"Watch out!" A voice shouted from way down below. Luna didn't even have time to look down before something hit her right in the gut. She went flying backwards, and struggled to catch herself as she fell. Gasping for breath, she landed on a high building and collapsed to her knees.

"Sorry!" A different voice called out apologetically. After a few seconds, she heard someone - two someones - land on the building beside her. "You okay?" the voice asked. It was obviously male, and Luna seemed to recognize it.

She turned to see two entirely different people. One was an ivory hedgehog with amber eyes, and his quills were styled in a strange fashion. The other was a lilac cat, who had amber eyes as well. She wore a purple cloak, and had her hair tied up on top of her head.

Luna narrowed her eyes at the two. "You again?" She asked menacingly. "Look, I thought I already told you, I don't have the Chaos Emeralds! And no, I'm not going to give you the jewels I have, either! So why don't you just back off?"

The hedgehog looked extremely confused. "I'm sorry. I think you've got the wrong guy. My name's Silver, and I'm sorry I bumped into you."

The cat nodded, glaring at Silver. "He is indeed very sorry. I'm Blaze, by the way."

Luna smirked at Blaze. "Well...I'm surprised you even got to come along, what with your little problem and all."

Silver was surprised by this. "Okay, now I can really tell that you have the wrong people."

"Don't talk about my powers like that!" Blaze shouted. "It's not my fault!You shouldn't speak of people like that!"

Luna rolled her eyes. "No, you…oh, never mind! I don't have time for this!" She jumped into the air, spread her wings, and took off, heading for Angel Island.

"The nerve of some people!" Blaze said, staring after her. "Come on, Silver! We're going after her!"

"What?" Silver asked, confused. "Why? All she did was be a little blunt. Just forget about it!"

"We're following her because she said something about the Chaos Emeralds and jewels. A kid like that is bound to be getting into trouble. And…well, she's just a mean person!"

"Hey, you're right," Silver said, lifting himself and Blaze into the air. "Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go!" He flew off, bringing Blaze with him in a cerulean glow.

_Hmm_, Silver thought. _She looks familiar…I just can't figure out where I've seen her before…_

* * *

"Come on, Arick!" Aithne shouted. "It's not that far to the house!"

Arick was trekking through the forest with his twin sister, going back to their house to see if it was still there. So far, they had passed by the spot where Clementine had made a tree house (gone), the carving on the oak tree of everyone's names (gone), and Justice's garden (also gone). Their house was less than five minutes away, and Arick wasn't sure it would be there at all.

"I don't know, Aithne," he groaned. "Everything else is just not there. Why would our house be there?"

"Because! It's our house! It HAS to be… oh…" Aithne stopped, staring straight ahead. "You're right."

Arick caught up to her, staring at what she was. Which was, basically, nothing. It was the same area that their home had been, but it had simply disappeared.

"Well," Arick said, walking forward. "I guess there's nothing else to do but go look for them."

Aithne followed him hesitantly. "Look for who? Mom and Dad? Justice? _Crash?_"

Arick turned back to her, looking serious as ever. "Everyone. Especially Mom, what with her current condition…"

Aithne's eyes widened as realization dawned on her. "Of course! How could we have forgotten?" She ran ahead of him, grabbing his hand as she went. "Well, come on! We don't have any time to waste!"

"Okay, okay!" Arick said, yanking his hand out of her grasp. "Jeez…and Mom and Dad say that I can be pushy…"

* * *

**Sorry this chapter took so long to get put up, but I've been busy with school and homework and all that. R&R, please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for not updating in a while. School's been catching up with me. I've had no time to write!**

**Okay, I can tell that the last chapter was NOT one of my better ones! I revised it, to make it…better. Sorry, but school's been taking away my imagination. Hopefully, since it's the weekend, my brain will be happy and inspirational.**

**And thank you to all who are reading this fic! You know I love your reviews!**

**Well, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

"The Master Emerald is the same as ever," Crash said as he gazed at it with his violet eyes. "Beautiful, yet mysterious in its own special way."

"Guess nothing's changed much," Knuckles replied, sitting on the stone steps leading down from the giant gem. "Except for the fact that I'm older and…well, you're there."

"Yeah," Crash said, sitting beside him. "I'm not sure if you know, but…who do you think is my mom? I mean, my stripes didn't come from nowhere, did they?"

Knuckles stared at him, thinking. Where had he seen a peach-orange colored female echidna?

In his mind, the image of a girl played like an old film. A female echidna, with peach-orange fur, was smiling. She looked happy. Yet at the same time, she looked like she felt…trapped. Without freedom. Doomed to be burdened forever.

Knuckles blinked in alarm, suddenly seeing that Crash may not be an ordinary echidna. "Well, I think - "

"Hey, look!" Crash said, standing up. "Are those the crazy hedgehogs?"

"What?" Knuckles asked, alarmed. "Where?"

"Over there!" Crash replied, attempting to point with his gloved hand.

Knuckles squinted to see what looked like a blur of different colors. But when it slowed, he saw what he was not in the mood to see at the moment.

Standing on a ledge about 100 yards away was Sonic, Amy, and three other hedgehogs.

"Oh, great," Knuckles groaned. "Just what we need."

* * *

"Angel Island is in sight!" Sonic shouted as he slowed down. "We should be there in less than…twenty seconds!"

"Great!" Dash said, almost matching his father's speed. "Can't wait to get back to the real Mom and Dad. You guys are cool, but I kinda liked it better when you actually knew who we were."

"Me, too," Justice replied. "And Tyler's not exactly making running easy." She struggled to keep Tyler in her arms as he squirmed in her grasp.

Amy sighed. "I just can't wait until I see you guys again," she said sweetly. "I hope it won't bee too long!"

As they progressed in their trip to Angel Island, Amy had begun to realize what Sonic and her having children really meant. So, she had been acting more pushy than normal towards Sonic, fantasizing their marriage and their future and their house and practically everything else that comes with having a family. Sonic, however, did not find it very appealing at the moment, and tried to ignore her as much as possible. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't working.

They approached the island quickly, jumping off of a ledge and landing gracefully onto the piece of floating land. Sonic set Amy down gently as Justice sat on the ground, still holding a very upset Tyler.

"What are you doing here?" Knuckles asked, coming up to them with Crash, who looked surprised to see the five hedgehogs.

Justice smiled when she saw the two echidnas. "We just wanted to know if you would help us. You see -"

"I accidentally asked the Master Emerald to take us back in time, but I didn't mean to and now I just have to ask it to take us back, and we can just act like nothing ever happened," Crash admitted in a hurry, his right eye twitching slightly.

"Okay…that wasn't exactly what I was going to say, but - wait, you did what?" Justice said, her eyes wide.

"Never mind!" Dash said, running up to the huge jewel. "Just get us back!"

"Hold up!" Sonic said, pointing to the sky. "Look! It's Tails and Cream!"

Amy blinked in the brightness of the sun, squinting to see the two small figures approaching Angel Island. "Uh, Sonic," she said hesitantly. "That's not Cream…"

"Hi, Crash!" Clementine shouted as she touched down on Angel Island. "What'cha doin'?"

"Hey, kiddo!" Crash said, patting the little girl's head. "Sorry I got you into this mess. I asked for the Master Emerald to do something for me, but it didn't exactly get it."

Clementine frowned. "But I thought the Master Emerald ALWAYS knew what to do!"

"Relax, kid," Knuckles said. "Even the Master Emerald makes mistakes."

"Hi, guys!" Tails said, landing on a patch of grass. "Uh…this is Clementine, my…uh…daughter…"

"Oh, don't worry," Sonic said, trying to shake Amy off of him, who was clinging to his arm. "You're not alone, little bro."

"Hi, Clementine," Dash said, waving to his friend.

"Oh! Hi, Dash! How's it goin'?"

"Good!" Dash replied with a cheerful grin. "We're going back to when our Moms and Dads know us!"

"Awesome!" Clementine ran up to where he was standing, gesturing for everyone to come up as well. "What're you guys waitin' for? Let's get this show on the road!"

* * *

Luna softly descended onto Angel Island, unnoticed by the bystanders on it. She stealthily hid behind a stone ledge, peering over it to watch what was going on.

_So many people_, Luna thought, gaping at the people gathered around the Master Emerald. _I don't think I've ever seen this many people on this island -_

"_What_ are you _doing_?"

Luna jumped at the voice that suddenly spoke. She whirled around to see Silver and Blaze, who had obviously followed her onto the island.

"How many times do I have to tell you to back off?" She snarled, her hands balled into fists. "What I do is my business, and what you do is yours." She chuckled at that, looking over to Blaze. "Speaking of business, I'm still wondering why you're even here. Fine, then. I'll just make you leave." Her hand went straight to her utility belt. Reaching inside one of the pockets, she pulled out…

"A Chaos Emerald!" Silver shouted, shocked. "We're too late!"

Luna gripped the red gem tightly. "Chaos Spear!" She screamed, thrusting a handful of spears at the two, sending them flying backwards off the edge of the island, far off to where even Luna couldn't see. Why Silver didn't use his powers to levitate both of them right then was beyond her, but she let it go, watching them as they soared off into the distance.

She snorted, placing the Chaos Emerald back in the pouch. "You'll be back," she mumbled. "Man, why can't I get that move right? They always fly off like that…Wait, do I even need a Chaos Emerald for that one? Or is that Chaos Blast?"

"What the…" another voice whispered, barely audible. Again, Luna spun around to face Knuckles instead, who was gawking at her, his eyes wide as dinner plates.

Everyone else appeared from behind the Master Emerald, staring at the newcomer. Everyone was silent.

That is, until Knuckles groaned and facepalmed, annoyed. "Not _more_ people!"

* * *

Aithne had been following her brother for at least an hour. He was high in the sky, on the lookout for anything familiar. Aithne was below, traveling and looking as well.

"See anything yet, Arick?" she called up to him anxiously.

He shook his head. "Not yet. We haven't made any progress. I'm not sure we'll find anything."

"Don't say that!" She shouted. "We'll find everyone! Keep saying that and you're going to jinx it!"

Arick didn't answer. He was squinting at something in the distance. It seemed to be getting closer…

"Arick? Arick, are you even listening to me?" Aithne placed her hands on her hips, irritated. "What are you staring at?"

"Hey, Aithne…I think you're going to like this!"

"What? What do you mean?" She floated up to him in a blue aura, like he was. "Okay, what's going on?"

Arick pointed to the screaming shape that was growing fast. "That!"

"What - OOF!" Aithne was hit by something hard, and she went flying to the side. Luckily, she caught herself in time. "What the…"

"Aww, man! Did it again!"

Aithne's head shot up, staring at the hedgehog floating in front of her. A purple cat crashed into him, and fell to the ground. The white hedgehog brushed himself off and lowered himself to the ground. Aithne and Arick did the same.

"Silver, seriously," Blaze said, annoyed. "Why didn't you just catch us? That way, you wouldn't have crashed into someone _again_."

"I like flying," Sliver said, chuckling to himself. "And that was much more fun."

Suddenly, Aithne pounced on Silver, toppling to the ground with him. "Oh, thank God you guys are okay! I was starting to think we wouldn't ever find you!"

"I told you," Arick said smugly, receiving a glare from his sister.

Blaze took on a confused expression. "Do we know you? I don't think we've met." She looked to Silver and Aithne, who were getting to their feet. "Although I must say, you two do look a lot like him. You guys could be related!"

It was Arick's turn to be confused. "What are you talking about, Mom? Now, let's go!"

"Whoa! Wait a minute!' Blaze said, staring at him. "Mom? I'm not your mom! I don't even know who you are!"

"I don't know you, either," Silver mumbled.

"What does this have to do with you? They - oh, I see! They look like you, so you must have something to do with them."

"Uh, Mom? Dad?" Aithne asked innocently. "Where were you just now? What happened to everything?"

Silver groaned and pulled on his quills. "Not again! Look, you've got the wrong people. I don't know you and you don't know me. And - wait, _Dad_?" He looked from the two to Blaze and back. "I'm not your dad. Got that?" He turned around and hastily walked away.

"Silver!" Blaze went after him, her arm outstretched. "I'm sure we can at least figure out where they've come from! Silver!"

Aithne and Arick followed the two, slightly disappointed. What had happened to their parents?

* * *

Hidden in the forests near Angel Island, a woman sat in a small, pod-like aircraft that rested just below the treetops. She wore a black hat, along with a full black bodysuit and black boots. Her black hair reached her hips, and her eyes were a dull yellow-brown color. A scar ran across her face, from the right side of her forehead to the lower left side of her jaw.

She smiled to herself as she looked at the tracking panel, a small cluster of blinking red lights pictured on it. Another blinking light (which was blue instead) was a small distance from the lights. Her targets were closer than she thought.

She brought the aircraft higher up, giving her view of the island holding the Master Emerald. Small animal people were gathered around it - well, sort of. They were looking at something out of her sight.

But that didn't matter. No, that was perfect. She could take the emerald while they weren't looking. She would make off with it, and they wouldn't even realize she took it until they turned around.

They could still hear the machine, however. But she didn't care. All she wanted to do was finally get the magnificent gem, to capture the ultimate power that was the Master Emerald. No one would be able to stop her with the advantage she'd have if she got it.

She laughed to herself, driving the pod towards the small island. Time to finally take what was rightfully hers.

* * *

**There you have it! What will they do with Luna? Will Aithne and Arick be able to convince Silver and Blaze that they're their parents? And who is the woman? What does she want with the Master Emerald? All of the answers to these questions and more will be revealed in the next chapter!**

**And again, I'm sorry for not updating. I'll try to make updates more frequent, but I'm not making any promises. Don't forget to review! It's simple, really. Just click that little button right there! Go on! Click it! I'm accepting anonymous reviews, you know!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Man, I really hate school…**

**Well, here it is at last! The next chapter!**

**Disclaimer:**** I own nothing but my OCs and the idea for this fic. The OCs would be the Sonic characters children, and the "mysterious woman."**

* * *

Luna crossed her arms like a stubborn child would when told what to do. "Okay, what did you do with my mom?"

Sonic blinked and brought his hand to his head, sighing in relief. "Phew! For a second there, I thought you were Shadow!" He stared at her, analyzing her looks. "Come to think of it, you are a bit different from him. You've got white instead of red, and you're a girl, and - WHOA!" He fell backwards as Luna tackled him to the ground, pinning him down. "Take it easy! Let me go!"

"Who are you?" She snarled, attempting to push him down further. "And who is Shadow?"

Sonic didn't answer. He just writhed in her grasp, actually attempting to gnaw her hand away from his wrist. Unfortunately for him, she didn't budge.

Amy spoke for him. "Shadow is his arch rival. He's a hedgehog, too. Come to think of it, he _does_ look like you!"

Dash grinned. "Hey! That rhymed!"

Ignoring the comment, Amy drew out her piko-piko hammer and held it threateningly above Luna's head. "Now get off of my Sonic!"

Scowling, Luna stood up, freeing Sonic, but glaring menacingly at Amy. "I have two things I need you all to do," she said, turning to face the others. "One, I need you to give me my mom back. I know she's here."

"But we don't _know_ who your mom is!" Tails said unhappily. "And - wait, how did you get here?"

"I flew," she replied simply. "Why?"

"If you flew onto the island, wouldn't you have been able to see your mom from up there? This isn't a very big island."

"He's got a point, you know," Clementine said smartly, receiving a glare from Luna.

"Well, where is she, then?" Luna asked angrily. "Come on, I don't have all day!"

"Look, we don't know, okay?" Sonic shouted miserably. "Now, what was that second thing you wanted us to do?"

Luna sighed in exasperation. "Take me to see this Shadow person. I want to find out why I look like him. And besides," she smirked, sweeping her gaze over them all. "He might be able to help me find my mom."

Justice handed Tyler to Amy, placing her hands on her hips. "I don't know, Luna. I'm not very sure he'd appreciate that."

Luna turned to face Justice and grinned. "Well, hey there, Stumble Shoes! I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Stop calling me Stumble Shoes!" Justice snapped angrily.

Luna rolled her eyes. "Immaturity at its best! Look, I don't have time for you and your stupid games." She shot into the air, spreading her wings. "Now, which one of you is going to take me to this Shadow person? Obviously Stumble Shoes here will just slow me down, so she's out of the question."

Knuckles immediately pushed Sonic forward. "He'll take you! Right, Sonic?"

Sonic stepped back as his eyes widened. "Me? No way! May I remind you that she tried to kill me?"

Justice rolled her eyes. "No, she didn't. That jewel-stealing freak didn't even come close. Look, if you just leave with her, maybe we'll be gone by the time you get back."

Sonic shrugged and took a step back. "Oh, what the heck? At least I'll get to give HIM some of this trouble!" He sprinted forward and successfully made a running jump off of the floating island. "Come on, lady! Let's go!"

Luna snickered as she took off, waving at Justice with a smug grin on her face. "See ya later, Stumble Shoes!"

Justice growled, staring after the hedgebat. "Yeah, see ya…in the slammer!"

Amy blinked, watching as Sonic and Luna quickly faded away. "So…she's from the future, too?"

Justice sighed, taking Tyler from her mother. "Unfortunately, yes. She and Rouge are the best thieves in the area, possibly the world. They always get away with stealing anything, be it a watch or a couch." She scowled as her face darkened even more. "She calls me Stumble Shoes because…well…can I tell you something?"

Amy nodded eagerly. "But of course! I'm going to find out whatever it is eventually, aren't I?"

Justice laughed at the comment. "I suppose you are. Well…to be honest, I find running - especially at high speeds - difficult."

Amy blinked in surprise. "Difficult? But you were just fine earlier!"

Justice laughed. "Yeah, I guess I was. This must be one of my better days. Normally, I'll trip on my own feet or run into something when I'm running so fast. I'm not sure why. Dash runs just fine, but I'm not so sure about Tyler. Luna likes to make fun of me for that."

Amy sighed. "I understand. Sonic's got that problem with Shadow right now."

Justice giggled. "Good old Shadow has been causing trouble since way back here, eh?"

"You could say that."

"Hey, guys!" Knuckles shouted. "Aren't we going to, you know, do the thing? With the Master Emerald?" Knuckles attempted to point.

Tails blinked, rubbed his eyes, then blinked again. "Uh…Knuckles?"

Knuckles looked at the eight year-old. "What?"

Tails pointed to the same place Knuckles was. "Where's the Master Emerald?"

Knuckles spun around and saw, to his horror, that there was indeed no Master Emerald resting in front of him. "What the…WHERE DID IT GO?"

Amy pointed to a flying machine holding the Master Emerald not too far ahead. "Over there!"

Fortunately, Knuckles had seen the aircraft. He promptly picked up a medium-sized rock and threw it at the machine, hitting it dead-on.

He didn't cause any extreme damage - just a large dent. The aircraft turned around to reveal the raven-haired woman, glaring at them with her dull, yellow-brown eyes.

"Give us the emerald back," Crash shouted to the woman, "and we won't do any more damage to your ship!"

The woman smirked, driving the small, pod-like ship towards them. "And what makes you think I'd actually give you this beauty?" She asked, her voice dripping with venom. "I've finally gotten the oh-so powerful Master Emerald, and you're asking me to_ give it back_? Ha! Please! I'm keeping this baby. I need it for my…operation."

Clementine growled, stepping forward. "Give it back, Genesis!"

Genesis flew higher in the pod, withdrawing a few guns from its sides. "Try me, kid!"

Justice shrunk back, clutching Tyler in her grasp. "I'd rather not…"

Crash, however, was all for it. "Bring it on!"

Genesis proceeded to fire the guns right at Justice, who seemed paralyzed with fear. Her feet wouldn't move, and her eyes were locked on the bullets that was charging straight for her and Tyler. She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for impact.

BOOM! The bullets seemed to explode about three yards in front of her. She opened her eyes to find that Crash had protected her. Crash turned to Justice, a calm yet angry look on his face.

Justice bowed her head gratefully. "Thank you," she muttered.

Crash chuckled, turning back to Genesis as he held his arm in pain. "Move out of the way next time, will ya, kid? That kinda hurt…"

Genesis growled at Crash's actions and fired again. This time, the bullets went on all different directions. Clementine and Tails dodged the bullets, proceeding to fly towards the pod. Amy drew out her piko-piko hammer again and started pounding the bullets with it, causing them to explode upon impact. Crash…well…Crash continued to hit the pod with random rocks, despite the fact that his arm had been injured.

"They're some kind of rockets!" Tails said. "They'll explode if you hit them! Keep going, guys! We'll try to get the emerald away from her!"

Dash frowned, kicking a bullet, causing it to explode. "He's right!" he said cheerfully. "Don't worry, Crash! I'll protect Justice and Tyler!" He sped over to his siblings, striking a heroic pose in front of them.

Justice laughed at her little brother. "Thanks, Dash," she giggled as Tyler watched the scene with his small, sparkling eyes.

Genesis continued to fire rockets out of her pod, as the crew created explosions all over the small island, from dodging and hitting them with ease. Tails and Clementine tried to pry the giant green gem loose from the mechanical arm that held it. All they did, though, was bring Genesis closer to the island, giving the others a harder time of dodging and attacking the missiles.

Crash growled in frustration and picked up a large rock. "I've had enough of you!" He shouted, hurling the boulder at the pod. "Now you're going to get it!"

Unfortunately, the boulder failed to hit its target. Instead, it hit the arm connected to the hand that was holding the Master Emerald, which proceeded to break off. Luckily, Tails and Clementine were able to save it, and began to carry it back to the island, receiving cheers from the others.

Genesis, however, had other plans. "YAAAH!" She shouted, firing her guns again. "If I can't have that emerald, then no one can!"

Her guns met their target, colliding with the Master Emerald, shattering it into pieces. Tails and Clementine dropped the arm, and the emerald shards went flying off into the distance.

"NOOO!" Everyone shouted simultaneously. They knew what would happen next - Angel Island would fall into the sea without the Master Emerald.

"Brace yourselves!" Knuckles shouted as the island began to fall. Everyone - except for Clementine and Tails, of course - ducked their heads and tried to hold tight to the grass and the ground as Angel Island dropped towards the sea.

Genesis growled and flew off. She would find the pieces, or at least try to. But no one would stop her from taking over the planet. She would make sure of that.

Dash spread himself out as the island fell, causing him to be lifted off of the island as it fell, making it seem as if he was floating. "Awesome!" Dash shouted over the wind that rushed past them. "Hey, look! I'm flying! Ha ha!" However, he realized that he couldn't get down, and began to wave his arms and legs around in a panicked frenzy. "Help!"

Amy clenched her teeth together as she opened an eye to look at her son. "Now is not the time for games, Dash!" She said through her teeth.

"I know!" Dash shouted, still trying to get down. "I'm trying to - OOF!"

SPLASH! The island crashed into the water, creating an enormous wave and causing Dash to quickly slam into the ground.

Knuckles slowly rose to his feet, followed by everyone else. "Is everyone all right?" He asked calmly.

Everyone responded with various assurances that yes, they were fine. Tyler, however, was wailing, and Justice attempted to comfort him. Tails and Clementine floated down to join them all.

"That…that…that idiot!" Clementine fumed. "Now there's no way for us to get back home!"

Crash narrowed his eyes. "Not unless we find them all and put the Master Emerald back together. But we don't know the effects of us being here, guys," he said worriedly. "Even if we do find the Master Emerald pieces, we'd have to be careful about what we do or say."

"He's right," Justice agreed, yelling over Tyler's screams. "But before we worry about all of that stuff, let's just find those emerald shards so we can get home!"

"But how are we going to get off the island?" Amy asked.

Everyone immediately turned to look at Clementine and Tails. The two blinked, knowing what everyone was thinking, but deciding not to show it.

"What?" They asked simultaneously. But both of them knew what was going to happen next.

* * *

"Oh, come on, Dad!" Aithne pleaded. "Why are you guys acting like this?"

Silver kept walking, not bothering to even look at Aithne. "Who said I was acting? I have no idea who you are! I'm not your dad! I'm only fourteen! Now leave me alone!"

Aithne sighed as Arick and Blaze looked after him in confusion. "Don't worry, guys," Blaze said comfortingly. "We'll figure out what's going on." Suddenly, a loud gurgling sound was heard. Blaze blushed and clutched her stomach. "Why am I so hungry all of a sudden?"

Arick frowned. "I'm hungry, too, but now is not the time to eat! I want answers as to why you two seem to be a lot younger, and why you just don't know us!"

"Look, maybe you're thinking of someone else," Blaze said defensively. "Sorry, but Silver's right. We don't know you. We're not your parents."

"Hey, guys!" Silver cried. "Look what I found!" He came running towards the other three with a shining green emerald shard.

"Whoa!" Aithne said, gazing at it in awe. "Is that a Chaos Emerald?"

"I don't think it is," A voice replied, receiving looks of shock from everyone else. "Looks like some of the Master Emerald to me. I wonder how it got here…"

A figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a very familiar male hedgehog. He was black and had red streaks on his quills, arms, and legs. His white gloves were decked with golden cuffs, and his shoes seemed to be able to do more than just decorate his feet.

Silver's eyes narrowed. "What do you want Shadow?"

Shadow stepped forward, his eyes locked on the emerald shard. "I've heard tell of strange hybrids and even regulars that seem to have come from nowhere." His eyes wandered to Aithne. "I can see you've found yourself a few."

Blaze glared at him. "What do you want with them?"

"Nothing," Shadow replied. "I just want to see what it's all about. I can't have people constantly bugging me about where they are. I have things to do, you know."

"Like what?" Another voice asked smugly. The voice's owner emerged from behind a bush, revealing the famed blue hedgehog.

It was Shadow's turn to glare. "Just what I need. What do you want, faker?"

Sonic chuckled. "It's not what I want. It's what Luna wants."

Silver blinked, confused. "Who's Luna?" He asked. "I don't think I've ever met her."

"Me, either," Shadow muttered. "All right, bring whoever it is out. I've got to see this."

"You heard him, Luna," Sonic said, looking up. "Come on!"

Luna jumped down from the tree and stared at Shadow. Aithne and Arick both became stiffer at the sight of her. Silver gasped and almost dropped the emerald shard, but it was saved by Blaze.

"Whoa…" Silver breathed. "It's like she's your sister or something! That's so cool!"

Luna smirked at Shadow, stepping closer. "Hello," she said. "I'm Luna." She looked herself over and then gazed at Shadow. "You know, they were right. We _do _look alike!"

* * *

**Not the best place to end the chapter, I know! Well, that was the first battle scene of the fic! Tell me if I suck at them, if it was halfway decent, or if it was good. Please tell me what you think of it! R&R!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Because of school, I'm not really updating as often as I should. Sorry about that. I hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

"How's it going down there, Dash?" Justice asked from the air. It hadn't been very long since they left Angel Island, but she wanted to check on her little brother anyway.

Dash grinned from below, giving her a thumbs-up. "Just fine! This is awesome!" He held his arms behind him as he ran even faster.

Everyone knew that they had to get off of the island at some point, and Tails and Clementine were their tickets off. They also knew that Dash was the only one who could actually run across the water without drowning, so they all left him on the island when they flew off, forcing him to run off of the island and onto the deep blue water. Tails was carrying Knuckles, Crash, and Amy, while Clementine held Tyler in her arms and Justice held on to her legs. It was an awkward arrangement, but it got them off of Angel Island safely.

After a few seconds, everyone got even closer to land, almost close enough to land on it. Tails and Clementine began their descent onto the high ground they were quickly approaching. Dash sped up its side, getting to the land quicker than anyone else.

"It's about time we reached land!" Dash said, plopping down onto the grassy earth beneath him. "I thought we were never going to get here!"

Clementine hit the ground with a loud grunt after Justice let go of her legs. "Well, you would have gotten here a lot sooner if you were more used to running on the water. Here's Tyler, Justice," Clementine handed the squirming infant to his older sister. "He's quite a handful! I don't know how you manage him!"

Justice laughed as she took the infant, who was grumpily reaching towards the ground, desperate to roam around out of his sister's grasp. "Well, it's not easy, but I'm used to it. Mom holds him more than me, though, so you should be more impressed with her!"

Clementine huffed, and began twirling one of the few strands of long hair from her bangs around her finger. "So... what do we do now?"

"I say we split up," Crash said. "We'll have a better chance of finding the emerald pieces if we're in separate groups. If we're all together, who knows how long it'll take to find them all?"

"I agree with Crash," Dash said, immediately rushing over to stand by him. "I'm with him!"

"No," Amy said, pulling him back. "You're with me and Justice. Clementine will go with Tails and Crash will go with Knuckles."

Knuckles nodded slolwy. "I hate to say it, but I agree with Amy. Our abilities correspond, and that could be a good thing later."

"And besides," Tails started, already lifting himself into the air. "We're family. What could go wrong?"

The group began to disband, and Crash groaned. "And you know when someone says that, something goes wrong. Tails just jinxed us!"

Knuckles shrugged, staring back at the others as Clementine took off with Tails, and the four hedgehogs sprinted away. "Who knows? At least you'll get to go back soon." He turned and began walking away. "Come on! We don't have all day, now!"

Crash sighed and walked after his father. "Remember," he told himself, "be careful..."

* * *

Shadow crossed his arms, glaring at Luna suspiciously. "Who are you?" He asked quietly. "Are you one of them?"

"If you mean one of the kids from the future, then it's quite possible," Sonic said, stepping up to join them in their staring.

Blaze tilted her head to one side, confused. "Kids from the future? What are you talking about? What is going on here?" She lifted her hand, which burst into flames. "I know you know something, Sonic. But you're not telling us what it is. Time to fess up, hedgehog!"

"Well," Sonic started, looking around at everyone as they waited for him to explain everything. "To make the long story short, we have kids in the future, one of them asked the Master Emerald to do something, and now they're all here. And if we don't do something, they'll be stuck here forever."

"Hold up!" Blaze said as she put out her flames. "So you're saying that these two," she pointed to Aithne and Arick, "are telling the truth when they say they're our kids? And now we have to get them back or we'll be stuck with them until we actually have them ourselves?"

Sonic was silent for a minute, processing what she had said. Finally, he grinned in satisfaction. "Pretty much."

"Wait," Silver said, raising a finger to hold the conversation. "I have kids? But... but that means..." His expression turned from confusion to disgust. "EEWW!"

"Hey! I'm taking that as an offense!" Blaze grabbed his arm and lit her hand.

Silver rapidly shook his arm, trying to make Blaze let go as Aithne and Arick watched, laughing at their father's expense. "OW! Okay, Blaze, I'm sorry! Let go, let go, LET GO!"

"Both of you, stop!" Luna cried, whipping out her Chaos Emerald. "Don't make me go through this again!"

Blaze immediately stopped the flame and froze, as did Silver. All was quiet as everyone gazed at the red emerald in the black hedgehog's hand. No one spoke until finally, Shadow broke the silence by snatching the emerald from Luna's grasp.

"A Chaos Emerald?" He asked, holding it up to the light. "Where did you get this? And why the hell do you need it?"

Luna didn't object to Shadow's actions, but clenched her jaw in anger. "My mom left it behind when she left. And I need it to help me out with my Chaos Powers. I was born with them, and I use them to fight, so I have good reason to have it in my possession."

"Hmph. That's hilarious," Shadow remarked, tossing the emerald into the air without any humor at all. "I have Chaos Powers as well, coincidentially."

Sonic looked from Luna to Shadow, then to the ground, and back to Shadow. "Well...I guess it's official!" He placed his arms around the two, recieving obvious feelings of displeasure from both of them. "You're related!"

* * *

**I'm sorry this was so late, and that it's not a special. I don't really do that sort of thing often. But, all the same, R&R!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, again. About the last chapter... not the best one, was it? But I'll dwell on that later. Let's get on to the fic.**

* * *

Crash and Knuckles wandered through the forests nearby Angel Island, not having much luck. When they thought they had found an emerald shard, it turned out to be a Flickie or trash or a stupid rock that somehow looked green from far away. Both of them had been searching for hours with no luck at all.

Knuckles groaned and facepalmed. "At this rate, we'll never find the Master Emerald! Where could the pieces have gone?"

Crash sighed, leaning against a nearby tree. "Obviously, we need to look someplace other than here. We've been in this same forest all day, and so far, we have nothing. We have to look farther away."

Frowning, Knuckles faced Crash. "But shouldn't we keep looking here? I mean, we could have missed something...maybe if we just look harder, we could find one here and then look somewhere else. I'm sure there's one here."

"Oh my...ugh." Crash moaned, walking away from Knuckles. "Well, you do what you want. I'm leaving.'

Knuckles walked after Crash, narrowing his eyes. "All right! I'm coming!"

Crash laughed, and crossed his arms. However, he couldn't help but be bothered for the same thought. What had happened to the others, again? Where did he last meet everyone? He knew the answers, but he just couldn't get them to surface.

Prodding these questions, he was very disturbed by the fact that he didn't know anything he tried to think of. Shrugging, he figured that he would figure it out later, and kept walking.

Now, if only they could find what they were looking for...

Amy struggled to keep up with Dash, running as fast as her legs would carry her. Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough. She couldn't keep up with him, so she hung back with Justice and Tyler.

"You're not running?" Amy asked curiously. "Why not? Are you afraid you'll drop Tyler?"

Justice shamefully nodded, knowing very well that her father would tell her to "just wing it." She didn't like winging it, though, especially if it involved Tyler. She was more of the "defensive type," as her mother had called it.

"THERE'S NOTHING HERE!" Dash screamed from afar. There was a loud rustling sound, and Dash shouted, "THERE'S NOTHING HERE, EITHER!" A second later, he was standing in front of Amy and Justice. "I can't find anything," he stated matter-of-factly.

Justice rolled her eyes. "That's because you didn't look hard enough," she replied in the same manner. "Come on, we should keep looking," she said as her gaze was lifted to the sky. "It looks like it's getting pretty late. We'd better get moving if we want to find anything before nightfall."

"She's right," Amy said, taking the lead. "Well, we don't have all day! Let's go! And besides," she smiled dreamily, clasping her hands together. "We may find my future husband somewhere along the way."

Justice smiled, following her. "I guess you're right," she said. Then, to herself, she muttered, "I bet we'll find mine, too."

* * *

"Have you found anything over there yet?" Tails asked Clementine from over his the raido in his plane. He and Clementine had immediately flown in to the workshop right after the gang had split up to install radios in their planes so they could communicate. Tails had an emerald detector in his plane already, so it was basically up to him to find the shards. But Clementine insisted that she helped to look, so they had split up so they could keep each other updated on their findings.

"Nothing," came the reply. "Emerald Forest is a no-go. What about you?"

Tails shook his head, but then realized that she couldn't see him. "Nope," he replied, holding down a button on the radio so she could hear him. "Not yet."

"These things are a lot like walkie-talkies," Clementine commented. "They're useful. And about our emerald problem...maybe we should -"

Suddenly, there was a loud _BOOM_, and all Tails could hear from his radio was static.

_Oh crap,_ he thought. He pressed the button on his radio. "Clementine? Are you all right? What happened?"

He could barely hear her reply because it was so broken up. All that came from the radio was "I...hit...down...help!"

_She's in trouble!_ Tails thought, immediately changing his course for Emerald Forest. _It's not far from here. I can get there in a few minutes._

But a few minutes was all it took for another ship to come into view. Before he could even realize what was happening, he felt something crash into the Tornado with a _BOOM_, and Tails found himself hurling towards the ground.

* * *

Shadow glared at his rival. "Impossible," he replied, twisting himself out of his grasp. "Others could have Chaos powers besides me. Don't be so quick to judge."

"I don't need to!" Sonic protested. "She's your sister or kid or something, whether you like it or not!" Sonic crossed his arms and frowned. "Come on, man! I don't want to be the only one here who believes I've got kids!"

"But I don't _want_ to get married!" Silver pouted. "I'll live under a rock if I have to! I just won't do _that_! And having kids just isn't my thing! No way!"

Luna rolled her eyes. _What a_ _baby,_ she thought. _Besides, you don't _have_ to get married._

Arick and Aithne cringed at the comment and were about to reply before Blaze piped up, "I still don't know if I believe him yet. It all seems a bit too far-fetched to me."

Sonic grinned yet again. "You also thought that coming back to this dimension and being reunited with Silver was a bit too far-fetched. And look at where you guys are now!"

Blaze blushed and stared down at her hands. "Well... that's different. And besides, Silver and I aren't even back to our time yet. But these two being here is a totally different story. I mean, come on! Do you honestly expect us to believe that these two are our children?"

"Um..." Sonic sheepishly nodded. "Yes, actually."

Blaze stared at him, and eveyone was quiet. Then, she stood up and walked off. "I'm out of here."

Silver's eyes widened when he realized that she had left. He jumped, picking up the Master Emerald shard, and ran after her, with Aithne and Arick in tow. "Blaze!" Silver shouted. "Come on! I don't believe it, either! Come back!"

Sonic stared at them before turning to Shadow and Luna. "Well, it looks like it's just us! Come on, you two!" He said, putting on yet another cheesy grin. "We don't have all week! Let's go and find those emerald shards!"

Shadow groaned and walked in the direction opposite of the way Silver and Blaze had gone. "Looking for emerald shards with the faker? This is just going to make my life a living hell."

"I know what you mean," Luna agreed. "I hate it when stupid people like him or Stumble Shoes follow us around. Mom, too."

"Hey, speaking of which," Sonic said, catching up to them. "Who is 'Mom'? I think I know already," he shot a smug look at Shadow, "but I want _Dad_ to hear it."

Luna rolled her eyes at the cobalt hedgehog. "You're crazy. I'm still not convinced that he's my father - there are plenty of other options - but my mother just happens to be the best treasure hunter in the world. I mean, come on." She twirled the Chaos Emerald on top of her finger. "Who else could be as good as Rouge the Bat?"

Sonic took the emerald away from her and tossed it with himself. "I'll tell ya who." He smiled at Shadow, who looked about ready to murder him. "Just for you, I'll say _no one_." He laughed when Luna took the emerald from him again.

Shadow gritted his teeth together in annoyance. "I'm going to kill that hedgehog."

* * *

******AAAHH! The filler-ness of it all! IT BURNS! Take it away! ...No? Oh, fine. Sigh...R&R.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Well, hello there. I won't bore you with a big, long author's note. Here's the next chapter.**

* * *

"My brain hurts," Crash complained. "Isn't it weird how I can't remember what I got Justice for Christmas last year?"

Knuckles laughed at that. "Not at all. I can't remember a lot of things, either. Like what Amy said two hours ago."

Crash rolled his eyes. "That's different. I mean, who forgets something like what his rival's sister's name is?"

"Do you mean Justice? Dash and Tyler's sister?" Knuckles asked, beginning to quickly climb up a ledge. "You just said her name! You must remember her! Those three are pretty hard to forget."

"No," he replied, following. "There's this guy named...Arick, I think it was. He's a real pain. He's got a sister...and I think he has a brother. Or another sister. Or am I thinking of Tyler? I can't tell anymore."

Knuckles shrugged as he continued to climb. "Well, I wouldn't know. I've never met him. But, it's a small world. Who knows? I may have met him but forgot."

Crash smiled as he pulled himself over the ledge, Knuckles following. "I don't know. That asshole's pretty hard to forget."

Knuckles was about to reply when something large crashed in front of them. The two stumbled backwards and fell off the ledge they had just come up, hitting the ground with a hard _THUMP_! Immediately, they stood up again, staring up at the smoke that wafted up from the high ground.

"What was that?" Crash asked, holding his head. "Ow...I hit my head hard. Now it hurts even more."

"Suck it up," Knuckles remarked, climbing up the ledge again. "We're going to find out what the heck that was."

* * *

Amy marched through the forest happily, as if she didn't have a care in the world. But at this point, who really knew? All she seemed to care about at the moment was her children, the Master Emerald, and of course, Sonic.

"It's cool meeting our younger parents and all," Dash said to Justice as they fell back from Amy's stroll. "But Mom's being a little...um..."

Justice frowned as she adjusted her hold on Tyler. "Crazy?" She sighed, staring at Amy, who seemed to have actually started singing. "Yeah, I can see your point. She certainly isn't like this...later in life, to put it simply."

Dash looked down at his feet, crossing his arms. "I just want to go home. Back to where Mom and Dad aren't so weird. Where we actually have a house, and where Clementine is obsessed with making stuff like that weird tree house. I even miss Aithne's complaining about how she's poor as dirt!"

"I guess so." Justice rolled her eyes. _Poor as dirt my butt. She's such a _-

"What are you guys doing back here?" Amy asked, falling back so the others could catch up to her. "We have to keep going! I'm determined to get you three back home soon! And the only way we're going to do that is if we find the Master Emerald pieces! Hey, look!" She darted ahead through a bit of undergrowth. "I think there's something up ahead!"

Justice and Dash looked at each other before running ahead to follow her. "Mom, slow down!" Justice said as she wrestled her way through the tangled plants, clutching Tyler to her chest. "Just what do you think is - whoa!" The two hedgehogs stopped beside their mother who was standing in muddy clay.

They all stared in wonder at a huge lake in front of them that seemed to expand for miles. The sparkling blue water calmly shone in the sun, while leaves (along with various other things) floated on top of it. Trees and messy shrubs lined the water's edge, adding some scenery to the sight, not to mention the view of some mountains even farther than the lake stretched.

They sat there for a moment or two, taking in the beautiful yet somewhat littered lake. Then, Amy pulled her feet out of the clay and began to march towards the water. "Well, we're not getting any younger!" She said, making no attempt to keep her clothes dry. "Let's go!"

Justice's eyes widened and Tyler began to make unintelligable noises as Dash followed, whooping as he ran straight into the water and disappeared in a matter of seconds. "Wait...we're actually going to look for the emerald shards in _that_? Tyler can't swim!"

"Well, you can stay up here with him if you want," Amy said, wading deeper into the water. "Dash and I are looking for them, though. See you later!" With that, she dove into the water.

Justice sighed. "Well, looks like it's just you and me, Tyler," she muttered more to herself than to the baby, who had begun to cry. With a yawn, she sat against a tree tiredly, trying to ignore him as much as possible.

* * *

Clementine stumbled out of her ship, clutching her arm in pain. Horrified, the fox-rabbit stared at the Hurricane and its pathetic state. The poor plane was a wreck, complete with one wing missing. It was literally bent in half, and had a large bullet in its side, where smoke seeped out.

_At least I'm alive_, she thought. _That could have killed me! But who shot me down?_

"Clementine?" A voice said, making her turn in surprise. "What happened?"

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Knuckles and Crash walking towards her, confused looks on their faces. "Hey, guys," she greeted them. "Something shot the Hurricane, and personally, I think it's too wrecked to be repaired before nightfall. I mean, look at it! This'll take days - weeks, maybe - to fix!"

"I'll say," Knuckles said, placing a hand on the hunk of metal that was once Clementine's plane. "You sure crashed pretty hard. You're going to need to - hey!" He looked around at his surroundings, which were suddenly getting darker. "What the - who turned off the sun?"

"Um, Knuckles?" Clementine said, her gaze raised to the sky. "I think you need to look a little higher."

Both echidnas did so, and their mouths dropped open. Flying in the sky was a huge aircraft that seemed to block out the sun in its entirety. The ship looked powerful, but seemed to have been put together from scrap metal, being made from something that looked like rusty red steel visible from where the trio was standing.

"Is that...Genesis?" Clementine squeaked, her eyes widening.

Crash shook his head. "Too big to be Genesis." He looked at Knuckles, who stared angrily at the ship. "But I think I have an idea of who it is."

* * *

Tails, unfortunately, was not as lucky in his landing.

He hadn't really known what hit him when he came crashing. All the way down, he held his eyes shut tightly. He fell, then heard a muffled _BOOM, _and everything was quiet.

When he first opened his eyes, he was confused. Outside, everything was too dark too even see three feet. But when a school of fish swam by, he immediately realized that he was under water.

Looking up, he saw that the surface was not very far away. Figuring that the water pressure shouldn't be too bad, he opened up the plane and swam out. However, his getting out of the Tornado turned out to have terrible effects on his plane. Tails watched in horror as it helplessly sank deeper into the water.

"That was close," he told himself. "I'm going to need to build a new plane or something... But back to the matter at hand! I've got to find Clementine - and those emerald shards!"

But no sooner had he begun to swim away than something grabbed his leg. Frightened, Tails thrashed his leg around, struggling to get out of whatever had a strong hold on his leg. Unfortunately for him, whatever it was dragged him under the water as he helplessly tried to swim back up.

_Why me?_

* * *

"Blaze? Where are you?" Silver called to his friend. "Where did you go?"

"Man, he's desperate," Arick said, keeping pace with Aithne. "It's only been five minutes and he looks panicked."

"There you are!" Silver said, having found the lilac cat. "I thought you - oh..." Silver froze. Aithne and Arick stopped as well when they caught sight of a small pod, holding a very familiar black-haired woman.

"Give me the shard," Genesis said, "and no one gets hurt."

Arick narrowed his eyes. "Listen, we know what you want. But forget about it. We're not giving it to you. Why don't you just go back to stealing babies? That seems to be something of your level."

Genesis was outraged at his comment, and opened her mouth to reply, but froze. Pondering the thought, she smiled devilishly. "All right," she said, her eyes scanning the four. "When the time comes, maybe I will. I could use a helping hand."

Aithne growled. "What are you..." her eyes widened as realization dawned on her. "Oh no..." She whirled around to face her twin. "Way to go! Thanks for giving her the idea! Now we're going to be running every which way!"

Genesis laughed at Silver and Blaze's confused looks. Arick glared at his sister. _They don't need to know about that just yet,_ he thought. He turned to Genesis and said, "I don't think you'll be doing that! That's not of this time! Besides, do you think that these two even _have_ a baby? No. They've got us, unfortunately. Now take a hike."

Unfortunately for them, Genesis wouldn't be gotten rid of so easily. "I don't think so!" She pressed a button and in response, the pod brought out various guns. "You still haven't given me that emerald shard! Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Silver was about to reply, but Arick beat him to it. "There's no way you're getting this shard!"

Genesis fired a gun. "I guess we're doing it the hard way, then!"

* * *

"I'm bored," Sonic complained. "When are we going to get any REAL fun around here?"

Shadow rolled his eyes and groaned for about the fifth time. "For God's sake, why do I have to be cursed to travel with _that_?"

Luna snickered when Sonic started to moonwalk out of sheer boredom. "Well, he's exciting, I'll give him that much." She laughed out loud when he ran into a tree. "Speaking of which, do you - AAH!" She yelped when something ran into her. "What the - what's the meaning of this?" She grabbed it and peeled it off of her face, identifying it as a small blue chao. "Where'd he come from?"

"I'm so sorry!" Footsteps sounded and a small brown rabbit ran up to the three. "Could I have him back, please?"

Sonic grinned at the girl. "Hey, Cream! Cheese got away from you, huh?"

Cream nodded as Luna handed Cheese back. "Thank you... um..." Cream stared at her, taking in her appearance. "I don't think we've met yet! My name is Cream."

Luna nodded at the girl. "Luna," she replied, walking away. "Now, come on you guys!"

"Aw!" Sonic cried, staring at Luna and Shadow, who had begun to walk away as well. "But what about Cream? Can't she come?"

"No," Shadow said, turning around. "Things are bad enough with you around. We don't need this kid tagging along too. Besides, she has no idea what's going on. Come to think of it, neither do I, yet I'm with you anyway."

Sonic turned to Cream and smiled. "Oh, yeah! We have to inform you! So, it all started when..." Sonic launched into a very detailed explanation of everything that had happened that day.

"Idiot," Shadow said, walking away. Luna stared at the two for a minute before following.

"So then, I had to get off the island and - hey!" Finally noticing that Luna and Shadow were nearly twenty yards away already, he grabbed Cream's hand and ran after the two. "Wait up! We're in this together, right? Right?"

* * *

**Hm...I honestly think this chapter could have been better. All the same, I thank you for reading this. R&R, if you can!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello. Now, before we begin I have some good news.**

**The good news is that you have been tricked. Duped. Pranked. You have been cheated and lied to by yours truly. How is this a good thing, you ask? Well, let's see... That's not what's wrong with Blaze (the only one who answered my previous question got it sort of right, but I know what you guys are thinking). That's not Crash's mother (if you guessed it in a review, you also got it half right). If you know what I mean, then get over it. No need to worry about any of that because that's not it. Don't worry, I'd never do anything that disgusting in any of my fics. **

**Now that I've cleared a few things up, I hope you enjoy the no-tricks chapter.**

* * *

"**HELLO, WORTHLESS ANIMALS!**" A voice boomed out from above. "**I hear you have my emerald! I'm here to TAKE IT FROM YOU!**"

Knuckles growled. "Eggman."

Clementine's eyes widened. "You mean _the _Eggman? The one who always did such horrible things to everyone?"

"What other Eggman is there?" Knuckles asked. "Of course it's him. And he wants what we don't have."

"HEY, EGGMAN!" Crash shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. "WE DON'T HAVE NO EMERALD! NOW GET LOST!"

Eggman came into view as a small compartment dropped down from the ship. "What do you mean?" He cried, drawing closer in the small pod. "Angel Island doesn't have the Master Emerald anymore! If you don't have it, who does?"

Knuckles grimaced. "Nobody. It's gone."

Silence ensued as the four stared at each other, unsure of what to say. Eventually, Eggman flew back up to his mighty ship, shouting, "I can find it if I look! I'm going to find it before you do! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"That thing looks just like Genesis's pod!" Crash said, staring up at Eggman, who had gone back into the ship again.

Knuckles blinked and scratched his head. "Well, that was stupid."

Clementine balled her hands into fists and glared at Knuckles. "Stupid? You're the stupid one!" She roared. "You idiot! You've just gotten us into big trouble!"

"Maybe not," Knuckles said, taking a step back from the seven-year-old. "If we find the Master Emerald before he does, he won't get it."

"What? Oh, yeah!" Crash began to walk away. "What do you say we look for the...um...emerald shards! Yeah, let's find them before Genesis does!"

Clementine rolled her eyes. "Both Genesis and Eggman now."

Crash picked up a rock and began tossing it to himself. "Whatever! Let's just go!"

* * *

"_Hey. Wake up._"

Justice stirred in her sleep when she felt someone prodding her. Lazily opening her eyes, she identified a figure standing in front of her, holding a large bundle.

She yawned, waking up slightly, and was shocked to see a damp Tyler being shoved into her face by the figure. Tyler laughed and poked her in between the eyes. "What the...what's going on?" Justice asked, taking Tyler from whoever handed him to her.

Looking behind Tyler, she found a wet Amy glaring at her. "You don't want to know where I found him," she snarled, marching back into the water. "Be more careful!"

"I'll be careful," she replied as Tyler coughed up a chewed-up leaf and giggled. Justice set him down and he attempted to toddle away, only to fall flat on his bottom.

Amy nodded and dove back into the water, struggling to keep her eyes open. Although she was confident that there was something in the water, she wasn't quite sure that they'd get to finding it. She and Dash had been searching for shards, but all they had seemed to find was algae, trash, and fish.

Suddenly, a stream of bubbles zoomed past her. _Dash_, she thought, following the bubbles back to the shore she had only just come from. _What's he up to?_

When she reached the shore, she was shocked to find that Dash had successfully found - wait for it - an emerald shard. Wiping green water plants off of himself, he gleefully showed it off to his siblings before turning to see Amy walking up to him, amazement written all over her face.

"What...how did you..." Amy struggled to string words together to form a sentence, but failed miserably. How could he have found it now, after nearly an hour of searching?

Dash grinned, triumph reflecting in his sapphire eyes. "The algae really hides stuff, now doesn't it?" He raised the large emerald piece higher. "You've just got to look hard enough!"

Amy gave him a disgusted look before shaking her head, scattering water droplets everywhere. "Well, at least you've got it! Now, come on! We have to keep going!" She once again began to walk away.

Justice sighed as she picked up Tyler and followed her mother. "She never gives up, does she?"

Dash smiled. "Nope. But that's what makes her a good friend...and a good mom."

* * *

Tails reached for the surface of the water, which was only growing farther and farther away. Finally deciding that he wouldn't die, he reached for his leg, ready to pull himself free of his attacker.

However, when his arms felt his leg, he felt nothing, and only continued to sink. Horrified, he glanced down, hoping to see that whatever was pulling him down wasn't a ghost. But what he saw wasn't exactly what he expected.

A light blue aura surrounded his shoe. But as soon as he saw it, it was gone, and he began floating back up.

Confused, Tails swam back to the surface. Gasping for air, he burst out of the water and began swimming back to shore. Once he could walk in the shallow bank, he began walking to dry land. But suddenly, he stopped.

Sitting on the shore was a small purple hedgehog that couldn't have been more than a year old; not even that, hardly. The infant smiled at Tails and seemed to want him to come closer.

Tails sprinted to the child and kneeled down beside it, trying to identify it. From there, he could see that it had white tips on the end of its quills and strangely had a long cat-like tail. A white outfit clothed its whole body except for its head and hands. Its hands, however, were still covered in tiny white gloves.

"Not _another _baby! Where'd you come from? And how long have you been out here by yourself? ...Wait a minute!" Realization dawned on Tails as he scooped up the child, trying not to jerk his hand away from the heat that radiated off of it. "I think I know who you belong to," Tails said. "But I've got to find both Clementine and the Master Emerald. How am I going to manage looking for all three?"

The baby kept a blank face, as if it hadn't heard him. Then, it gave a tired yawn, and promptly sneezed in Tails's face.

Tails sighed, wiping the spit off of his face. "Well, since I have no idea who you are, I'm going to assume you're a... girl, judging from the color. Now, let's look for all the stuff we've got to look for." Rolling his eyes, he successfully attempted to carry the infant as he propelled away. "Look at me, talking to a baby. I must be going crazy..."

* * *

"Is it too late to go back to the easy way?" Silver asked, dodging a few bullets that came his way.

Arick raised his hand, capturing a bullet in a blue aura and throwing it back at Genesis. "Obviously," he replied. "She's putting up a fight!"

Blaze continuously hurled fire balls at the floating pod. "Well, you're the one who started this whole thing! If you'd have just shut up, none of this would be happening!"

Aithne, however, cowered behind a tree, gawking at the scene before her. "Quit fighting! Seriously! Maybe this can be solved another way!"

Genesis laughed maniacally, firing guns at random. "You think you have all the power! Well, you won't for long! Soon, I will be the most powerful thing in the world! HAHAHA -"

Suddenly, Genesis froze, and the guns ceased to fire. She looked around curiously, her eyes wild with confusion. She stared at the guns that she had drawn, horrified by her actions.

Arick growled at her. "What are you waiting for? We're right here!"

Genesis blinked at the four, as if trying to determine what to do next. "I...why should I continue?" She was suddenly calm, not caring for her weapons at all.

Silver sighed in relief. "Whew! Okay. Now I guess we can - wait, what?" His eyes narrowed and he rose up to Genesis's level in a blue glow. "What are you talking about? Whatever happened to 'give me the emerald shard'? Huh?"

Genesis looked even more confused. "What shard? And why would I want it?"

Arick glared at the woman. "Oh, I get it! You're trying to trick us into letting our guards down! Then you'll take the shard and keep it for yourself so you can go and find the rest! Well, you're not getting away with that! Take this!" Holding out his hand, he wrapped her and the pod in a cerulean glow, and hurled her at the ground.

"What did you just _do_?" Blaze asked, shouting over the explosion the impact made. Bits and pieces of metal flew everywhere. They stuck themselves into trees, plummeted to the ground, and in some instances, scraped various body parts of Silver, Blaze, and Arick.

When all that was left was smoke, and the metal seemed to have stopped falling, they all stepped towards the place where the pod had hit the ground. "I'll tell you what I did," Arick said. "I just saved the Master Emerald!"

Blaze groaned. "That was a rhetorical question. Wait a minute...where's that lady?"

Aithne, having joined the group again, stared at the scene. "Genesis," she said, sheilding her eyes from the remaining smoke. "I don't know where she is."

Silver began searching. "That's impossible! Surely we should still be able to find a singed body or some bits of flesh! Maybe an organ or two. But some part of her should still be here! Perhaps she lived and got away!"

Aithne wrinkled her nose. "Ew! Gross!"

"Keep looking, Dad - er... sorry. I guess you prefer... Silver..." Arick made a small attempt to correct himself when Silver glared at him. When he had begun to look again, with Blaze's less-than-enthusiastic body search helping him out, Arick walked over to his sister. "What do you think Genesis meant by 'when the time comes'?"

Aithne sighed. "Well, it shows us that either someone's having a baby, or she doesn't know about...you-know-who. Or both. Which is good. We won't have to start worrying about the Wicked Witch of the West taking the youngest member of our family. Speaking of which, where is he?"

Arick shrugged. "I don't think he's here. When we first came here, I just kind of assumed he didn't come with us. He might still be back in our normal environment. That's why I told Genesis that it wasn't of this time. But we can't let Mom and Dad know. The last thing we want is for them to be freaking out over another kid."

Aithne rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Whatever."

"Um, guys?" Silver called. "I think we have a problem." He scratched his head, confused.

Blaze looked equally puzzled. "She...she's gone."

"What?" Arick sprinted to the two, his sister in tow. "You mean she got away? We need to go after her and make sure she doesn't get the other shards!" He started to run off, but was brought back by Silver's psychokinesis.

"No, Arick," Blaze said. "I mean she's gone. We can't find any trace of her at all. She's disappeared."

* * *

"...And that's when we met you! That brings us to where we are now!" Sonic proudly finished informing Cream of the day's events. Smiling triumphantly, he stared at the young rabbit, as if silently asking her if she had any questions herself.

Cream, still in awe of the information she just recieved, struggled to muster up a sentence or two. "So you and Amy have children? That's wonderful! But I do wonder who Crash's mother is. Speaking of mothers...well...am I Clementine's mom?" She finally asked. "I mean...if I am that would be cool. Not that I'm wishing I am. But I want to have children when I grow up. Cheese is more like a pet, and I think raising kids would be a good experience, so...I'm sorry for rambling. Back to the question. Do you know who her mom is?"

Sonic smiled at the rabbit's innocent question gone slightly wrong. "I don't know. It's possible. Heck, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were, just beacuse the two of you look so much alike. Well, aside from the color, Clementine's fox-like details, and a few other things, but... yeah, I think you get it. I don't know. When we meet her again, we need to ask her that. But we're not making any assumptions about this."

"Pick up the pace, you two," Luna said from nearly three yards ahead. "Come on! I thought you were supposed to be the fastest thing alive!"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't put it past him to claim that title. But it's not entirely true. Oh, sure, he's quick on his feet, but his mouth runs like the fastest thing in the world."

Sonic narrowed his eyes at his rival. "Oh, yeah? I'll show you!" Taking Cream's hand, he hoisted her onto his back, while Cheese flew into her arms. "Whoever gets out of the forest first wins!" With that, he dashed away, nothing but a blue blur to the two ebony hedgehogs.

Shadow sped after him, with Luna in tow. Determined not to lose the race, no matter how pointless it was, he managed to catch up to the cobalt hedgehog in a matter of seconds. Sonic smirked at him, hoping that Cream wouldn't weigh him down too much. Shadow just glared at him, completely oblivious to Luna, who was half sprinting, half flying right beside him.

"Exactly what do you both expect to gain after this?" Luna asked, catching Shadow's attention. "It's just a stupid race. If either of you win, it won't prove anything. Sonic may win this one, but Shadow may win another. You may both be equally fast."

"I don't know!" Sonic answered for Shadow. "I guess we just want to see who's faster or more prepared at the moment. Speaking of which," he eyed her curiously, "how the heck do you run like that? Don't your wings slow you down?"

Luna shook her head. "Actually, no. They help me go faster. I can already go pretty fast, but flying a bit while I run helps. Mom says that my father was already fast, but I guess I'm more used to flying."

"Your dad? Fast? Ha! I don't think so." Sonic smiled devilishly at Shadow.

Luna grunted as she tried to stay on the ground. "For the last time, he's not my father! At least, I don't think so. I'm still unsure about this whole thing."

"Can't I get a word in?" Shadow said, screeching to a halt. Sonic stopped abruptly beside him, almost throwing Cream off his back, while Luna stumbled out of the forest.

"Whew!" Sonic breathed, looking around. "I win!"

Shadow frowned at him mockingly. "No, I win."

"You both win!" Cream shouted, climbing off of Sonic's back. "It was a tie! Let's leave it at that!"

Sonic opened his mouth to reply, but closed it, knowing very well that she wouldn't take sides. "Fine. Hey, where are we?"

The four scanned their surroundings. The forest had abruptly been cut off, and was replaced by a grassy clearing. As far as they all could see, there was nothing but grass. Over the horison, however, there seemed to be building, as well as people.

"Civilization!" Cream squealed, already beginning to walk ahead. "There's bound to be something there! And who knows? Maybe one of the people will know where a few Master Emerald pieces are!"

"Hey, I guess you're right," Sonic agreed, following her. "Luna! Shads! Come on! It's getting kind of dark, and I don't think we want to be looking for stuff at night!"

Shadow sighed as the two began to trudge after them. "Exactly why are we looking for these shards anyway?"

Luna shrugged. "To put the Matser Emerald back together, according to Blue Boy's story. But I hope they don't mind if I have a few other plans for the shards myself." Smiling at Shadow's somewhat confused look, she picked up her pace, trying to catch up to the unknowing Sonic and Cream.

* * *

**So...yeah. There's my next chapter. Tell me what you think.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Well. And here's me thinking that this story sucks. Apparently I was mistaken... sort of. **

**Well, it took me long enough to come up with ideas for this chapter. Stupid writer's block... I'm hoping that this is at least good enough to be called a chapter.**

**I was thinking that maybe I should put this in the "humor" category rather than the "family" category. Anyways, I can tell that I'm going to have to explain a lot of things because this story's just that messed up. I suppose I should get to that pretty quick here...**

* * *

The sun was setting quickly as Knuckles, Crash, and Clementine traveled on in search of Master Emerald pieces. Of course, Eggman was hot on the case as well, and they tried to move quickly. But Clementine was getting tired, Crash seemed to have forgotten exactly why they were looking for the Master Emerald in the first place, and Knuckles was getting extremely annoyed at the other two.

"For the last time, we are looking for the Master Emerald because it will get you back home!" Knuckles snapped in yet another attempt to tell Crash what they were doing. "Now shut up!"

Poor Crash only looked more confused. "But why would I want to go back home? It's awesome here! And I haven't found out who my mom is yet!" He grinned as Knuckles stopped to smash his head against a tree.

Clementine had begun to mutter under her breath. "Stupid people... Enemies like Genesis shouldn't exist. Enemies shouldn't exist, period. I hate enemies like Luna, Aithne, and Arick. Of course, some of their stuff is caused by what we do. If we hadn't carved our names into that stupid tree, the Idiot Twins wouldn't have done all that stuff to us..."

"Hey!" Knuckles shouted to the young fox-rabbit. "You're lagging behind! Keep up!"

Clementine picked up her pace and groaned. "But I'm tired," she complained with a yawn. "Can't we rest somewhere?"

"Yeah," Crash said, agreeing with the seven-year-old. "I think we should rest. We've been walking for a long time!"

Knuckles clenched his jaw in frustration. "We will not rest until we find an emerald shard," he said through gritted teeth. "Now quit your whining and help out!"

Clementine sighed. "Whatever," she mumbled. "But let's do it before nightfall, please." She smirked when she noticed Knuckles stiffen.

"So where are these things, anway?" Crash stupidly asked. "Why have we been looking all day for these things if they're not even in this area?"

"Yeah, Knuckles," Clementine sneered. "Why haven't we found anything yet? I thought you guys could sense when it was nearby!"

"Look, I don't know, okay?" Knuckles snapped, throwing his hands in the air. "My senses have been really off lately, everything feels weird now that the thing is _broken_, and I have no idea what the heck is going on! Now shut up! You're both being really annoying right now!"

Clementine was about to reply to his outburst when her eyes widened and her ear perked up slightly. "Hey, guys? Did you hear that?"

Crash looked puzzled. "Hear what? Kid, you seem tired. It could have been anything!"

She glared at him, but turned around quickly. "There it is again!" She exclaimed.

Knuckles stared in the same direction she was looking. "Hey, I think I hear it, too! Are you hearing that weird buzzing sound?"

Clementine nodded. "I think it's coming from over there!" She pointed to some bushes and ran towards it. Knuckles and Crash followed.

"You guys are both insane," Crash said. "What do you expect to find? Besides, the Master Emerald doesn't make that-"

He was cut off as an orb of light zipped past them. A loud buzzing sound seemed to follow it as it flew through the air.

Crash blinked in surprise. "-Noise..." he finished.

Knuckles whirled around. "Follow it!" He exclaimed, taking off after the light, with Crash and Clementine in tow.

"What do you think it is?" Clementine asked as she flew through the air, flapping her ears.

Crash shrugged. "I don't know. But whatever it was, I _think_ it might have something to do with the Master Emerald. Now, come on! We've got a thing to follow!"

**********

"So... what are we going to do with this thing? Just carry it around until we know everyone else has the rest of it and head back to the island to put it back together?" Dash stared at the green gem in his hands, mesmerized by its beauty and shine.

Amy crossed her arms and turned to face him. "Nope! We're going right back to that island, putting the shard back there, and going back to look for more!"

Justice gave her a confused look. "But wouldn't it be open to thieves then? Besides, you could just put it in-"

"I don't want to hear complaints!" Amy said, continuing to walk on. "We're going back to Angel Island! Besides, someone else could be there! You never know!"

Justice rolled her eyes and looked down at Tyler. "She's going to go crazy by the time we get back," she whispered to the infant, who actually seemed to nod in agreement.

The hedgehogs continued their journey to the island, mixed emotions with each of them. As Amy instructed them to pick up the pace, something - or someone - jumped down from a tree above. Clad in full black, the only color that could be seen on the figure was a pair of sapphire eyes, ivory fur, and a pink heart covering its upper torso. A black hood covered its face, but when they pulled it off, a female bat's face was revealed.

Rouge the Bat smiled devilishly at the group, all of them unaware of her presence. _Taking my emerald, are you? Not if I can help it!_

**********

"I can't believe it," Tails muttered, flying through the air as he propelled his twin tails. "Of all the people to have found you, I had to. I don't even know the first thing about babies!"

Nothing seemed to be on the infant's mind as it only smiled at him and stuck its thumb into its mouth. With its other hand, it pulled on one of Tails's bangs.

Tails groaned, pulled his hair out of its grasp, and sighed. "Well, you're not my kid, but apparently, you're my responsibility at the moment... At least you're not crying or anything."

However, for the entire flight, the child seemed to be causing problems for Tails other than crying. It constantly pulled on his hair, grabbed various parts of his face, and occasionally kicked him in the face.

"Gosh, where are they..." Tails asked himself as he rubbed his jaw in pain after the baby's third thrash that hit him. "If I don't find them soon, I'll go insane!" He continued flying, but froze when he heard a voice. Hovering as he propelled his tails, he listened in to the conversation.

"...Come on, guys! Angel Island's not far off!"

_Amy!_ "Hey!" He shouted, lowering himself down to the source of the voice. "Amy! Wait up! I need you to help me with something!"

"Tails? Is that you?" Amy ran towards her friend. "What are you doing here? I thought you were with Clementine! And what the heck are you doing with THAT?"

Dash grinned at the fox. "Hi, Uncle Tails! It's good to see you again! But... why do you have Zach?"

"Zach? You mean... he's a BOY?" Tails handed the child off to Amy. "Here. Take him. I thought he was a girl. He's probably mad at me."

Dash struggled to conceal his laughter while Justice slapped her forehead. "Oh, great," she muttered. "Where did you get him? We need to get him back to his parents, and quick, or else we're going to be in the middle of another family feud!"

"Yeah," said Amy, "you're probably - wait, what do you mean _another_ family feud?"

Justice grimaced. "Well, you see... You know what? We'll explain later. Let's just get this kid back to his parents."

Amy opened her mouth to protest, but Dash grabbed her arm and began to pull her along. She struggled to keep the child in her arms as they walked.

"You must be Silver and Blaze's kid," she said to Zach. "But how did you end up here?"

Zach didn't even pay attention to her. He was occupied with staring up at the trees above. The infant spotted movement, and smiled, reaching up to try to grab whatever it was. However, he soon realized that he couldn't reach it from Amy's height. Frustrated, his hand began to glow, and a random tree branch fell on top of Dash's head in a light blue glow, causing him to drop the emerald shard.

"Dash!" Justice ran over to her younger brother and knelt down to check and see if he was all right.

"Oh, no!" Amy hurried to the boy. "Are you okay?"

Dash grinned. "Are you kidding? This thing isn't even as big as my arm!" He picked up the stick and waved it in the air. "See? Puny!" He carelessly tossed it over his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Rouge was spying on the group from a tree. "That's right," she whispered, narrowing her eyes. "Put down the shard. I'll take good care of it for you."

Suddenly, the bat detected a whir in the air. She looked up to find the source, but it got to her first. The stick hit Rouge right in the forehead.

Dazed but not confused, Rouge shook her head and crept closer to the others. "Ididot," she muttered. "I'll get you for that."

Tails glowered at Zach. "Zach! You know I saw that! First you trick me about your gender, then you hit Dash on the head? What do you have to say for yourself?"

Zach wasn't even looking at the fox as he spoke. He was concentrating off to the side at a few leaves falling to the ground. His amber eyes followed them as they fluttered downwards, and he reached out to catch one.

"Hey!" Tails yelled. "Hello? Can you hear me, kid? Are you DEAF? HELLO?!"

"Stop!" Amy shouted, holding a hand to her ear. "Yelling at him might not get his attention! Now stop it before my eardrum breaks!"

"Come on," Dash said, picking up the shard, "let's go and find Zach's parents. I don't want to know what's going to happen if they figure out we have a kid of theirs. At least, I'm hoping they know they have kids..." He began to walk away as if nothing had even happened. The others followed.

Rouge poked her head out from the tree. _No, no, NO!! Go to Angel Island! You want to drop off the emerald! Come on, work with me here! God, is it too much to ask for an easy target?_

**********

"So let me get this straight," Aithne said for the fifth time. "You're saying that Genesis is just gone, or she burned up in the explosion? And we have absolutely no idea where the heck she is? She could be anywhere right now, and you're just sitting here?"

Silver slapped his forehead. "We'd get moving if you'd just shut up about this! Yes, that's the case, and we're going now! Come on, Blaze!" He grabbed his friend's hand and walked off, Aithne and Arick in tow.

"Well, what are you whining about?" Arick asked his sister. "We've finally gotten rid of her, no thanks to you, Miss Lazy Butt."

Aithne glared at him. "Hey! I've done my fair share of fighting her off!"

Arick rolled his eyes. "You? Help? Please! I've seen Justice do more than you have!"

"I have so done things!" Aithne's voice was beginning to rise. "You're being so... what's the word... judgemental!"

"Yeah?" Arick questioned his sister as his voice began to rise as well. "Name one time you actually helped us out and weren't off having fun. One time!"

Blaze smacked her forehead. "Ugh. Here they go..."

"I... I..." Aithne's face was slowly turning red.

Arick narrowed his eyes at her angrily. "Yeah. See? You can't even answer to that! Listen, sis! I'm tired of all this! What are you doing when we're not around?"

Aithne seemed frozen as she struggled to answer her brother. Luckily, Silver was there to save her. "Okay, that's enough!" He shouted, coming in between the two. "Quit fighting before you hurt each other, or someone else for that matter!"

"Silver's right," Blaze said, placing her hands on her hips. "Honestly, do you two fight like this often?" When they nodded, she sighed and lit her hand on fire. "Well, you were just fine a minute ago! Seriously, if you two don't stop, I'll be the one to stop it."

Aithne grimaced and nodded. "But just because he deserves it..." She lit her own hand on fire and lunged for Arick, who dodged her move easily, sending her flying right into the ground.

Silver's mouth dropped open. "You... you just..."

Blaze's fire died down as her eyes slowly widened. "You can control fire, too? But... how? I thought you were related to Silver somehow, but..." She turned to the ivory hedgehog, a questioning look on her face. "All right, is there anyone in your family who-"

"No," Silver said, answering her question before she could even ask it. "There isn't. And I told you before, I hardly know who they are."

Aithne raised an eyebrow as if she couldn't believe that it was such a big deal to the two. "Well, let's see. My mother was a pyro cat, and my father was a telekinetic hedgehog. Maybe, just maybe, I have BOTH their powers!"

Arick smirked at her. "But she's okay with that, aren't you, Aithne?"

Aithne rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm very excited to be a part of this wonderful family. But if you two _still_ aren't convinced that you're our parents, I think I have a perfectly good reason NOT to be okay with that." She stood up and brushed herself off.

Silver shook his head as if trying to shake off the recent event. "You know what? Let's just go. Maybe we can find this Genesis person if she's still alive."

Everyone nodded and the group began to walk again. However, before long, Silver heard Arick whisper to his sister, "You think you've got a chance at being a part of the 'normal' crowd? You think you can just get out of all this by just avoiding us and trying to be one of them? Aithne, believe me, as long as I'm your brother, you'll _never_ be normal."

"Silver?" Blaze whispered, leaning in closer to him as they walked. "I think I'm actually starting to believe what they said earlier about us being their parents."

Silver didn't reply, but he could tell that Blaze knew he was thinking the same thing.

**********

Sonic knew he was annoying everyone with his constant chatter, but he didn't care at all. In fact, this only seemed to drive his talking further.

"So... yeah. This place is okay," Sonic said, looking around. There hadn't really been many houses, and most of the people who lived in them had absolutely no idea what they were talking about when they asked them about the Master Emerald. They were all ready to leave. Cream was the only one keeping them there, as she had lost Cheese again and had gone to look for him.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Please tell me why you are still with us."

Sonic grinned. "Well, for one thing, I've got to keep an eye on you! I don't want you doing something bad with the Master Emerald, or any Chaos Emeralds if you find one! You're a bad little hedgehog, and I'm here to keep you in line!"

Luna smothered a laugh as Shadow balled his hands into fists. "You idiot," he muttered. "Why didn't you just go along with Silver? I would think you'd have just as much fun traveling with his group."

Sonic frowned. "Silver? No way! He's no fun! And what would HE do with a Chaos Emerald? Besides, Blaze went with him. I don't think I want to stay with him when his girlfriend gets involved. Ew. And did you see those weird guys with them? They looked-"

"I found him!" Cream ran over with a happy Cheese in tow. "He was in a tree. I had to fly up to get him down."

"Well, that's great," Luna said, flying over to the girl. "Now can we go? There's not anything worth taking here."

"Yes," Shadow agreed, "let's finally leave. Don't we have an emerald to find?"

"But we're not having any luck!" Sonic pouted, folding his arms. "This sucks! Who knew treasure hunting could be so hard?"

"And now you know how I feel," Luna muttered more to herself than the cobalt hedgehog.

"If only we had Knuckles with us," Cream sighed. "He would be able to help us find it."

"Chao chao chao," Cheese sighed as well, looking down to the ground.

"I don't know," said Sonic. "I would think he'd be all confused with the emerald being in all these different places at once."

"When did we get on the subject of the echidna?" Shadow asked. "I told you, we have an emerald to find. And standing around here all day isn't going to help us get it any sooner. Now, are we going or not?"

"You," Luna began, pointing to Sonic, "say that finding the emeralds will help me get back home. Well, I am sick and tired of hanging around all of you, and right now, I'm willing to do anything to get out of here. I say we go."

"Of course," Cream said. "Maybe there's an emerald shard close by!"

"Chao chao!" Cheese chirped his agreement, pumping a fist in determination.

"That's what you said when we came here!" Sonic hollered. "Fine. Since the locals were no use to us, I guess we're on our own now."

Sonic ran off, with the others on tow. All of them were silently pleading to themselves that they would find something, anything that would give them a clue as to where the wild goose chase was going to end. Because so far, it didn't look like anything would be turning up anytime soon.

* * *

**Hopefully you won't consider this another filler. I have figured out that it is NOT GOOD to write when you have severe writer's block. Sorry.**

**...But at least I updated after about three months. That's something, right?**

***WARNING! SPOILERS! SHIELD YOUR EYES!***

**Now, I'm planning a few things for next chapter. Two characters come in, something bad is still going on, and Aithne reveals a few things that may slightly shock you (No, not THOSE things, you sickos!). I'm hoping you'll stick around to read it.**

***End of spoilers***

**So... yeah. Bye!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thankfully this update didn't take over three months like the last one. I'm actually pretty excited about this chapter. I don't know why. Maybe because it's my longest chapter to date?**

**So... yeah. That's all I have to say for now. Here it is.**

* * *

The group followed the very strange orb of light, mainly identifying it by its loud buzzing noise. It wasn't very hard for them to trail, however, because the light the sun was casting off was very dim, making the orb seem brighter in the afternoon glow.

"Where's it going?" Clementine wondered aloud. "It's just floating around everywhere."

Clementine was soon proven wrong, however. When the orb reached a cluster of shrubs, it dove straight in, and the buzzing suddenly stopped.

Crash jumped into the small grove with it, and Knuckles and Clementine followed. All three of them gasped to find a large green emerald shard that was glowing with a harsh light.

"I knew it had something to do with the Master Emerald!" Crash said, pumping his fist. "We found one!"

"Oh, awesome!" Knuckles said, kneeling down beside the shard to examine it. "But what's it-"

Suddenly, the surrounding bushes began to rustle. The whole group froze, their eyes widening as something came forward. Just then, two figures jumped through the leaves and branches, landing right in front of the emerald shard.

Surprisingly, the two were quite the same, yet different as well. Both were young peach-orange female echidnas with wide violet eyes. One, though, was wearing a white shirt and a gold necklace with a green skirt decorated with a strange diamond pattern. Around her head was a headband-like tiara, and some of her dreadlocks were wrapped in cloth.

The other echidna was quite different. She was covered in an all black bodysuit, and her wristbands glowed purple, along with a design on her headband. Her dreadlocks were swept up by the headband, and her boots had a stripe that glowed pink running down the front.

Knuckles gasped, recognizing the two immediately. "Tikal? Shade? What are you doing here?"

Clementine sighed. "Great. _More _echidnas."

"Hello, Knuckles," Tikal said, giving him a nod of acknowledgement. "Hello, Crash and Clementine."

"Uh... yes," Shade said, smiling. "Hello."

Clementine blinked in surprise. "Whoa! You know who we are! But how?" She tilted her head to one side, staring at them with a confused expression on her face. "I thought we came to the past. Are you from our time? If you are, I don't think we've met."

"No," Knuckles said, "they're not."

"Well, if you want to look at it that way, then that's entirely true," Tikal said. "I live in the Master Emerald, remember? I am alive in your time as well as hers. However, Genesis broke it, so I was released."

"You know Genesis, too?" Crash asked, his eyes widening. "Where is she?"

"Why, she's right there," Tikal said. With her gloved hand, she pointed right at the emerald shard.

Crash didn't seem to understand and began to look around wildly for any trace of the woman. "What? Where? Where is she?"

"Right _there_," Shade said, grabbing hold of Crash's head and forcing it to look at the shard.

Understanding, Crash grinned. "No way! That's cool!"

Knuckles picked up the gem, staring at it in awe. "No... that's impossible!"

"It's entirely possible," Tikal said. "You all came here to the past. You weren't meant to do so. The people of your past," she looked Clementine's way, "now know some events of your time. Therefore, some things are happening that were never meant to happen, and they are preventing your very existence."

Knuckles dropped the shard. Crash and Clementine's mouths dropped open. No one said a word.

"So... is that why Crash has been acting so weird lately?" Clementine asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm afraid so," Tikal confirmed. "Genesis came to the Master Emerald because she caused so much chaos in trying to find these shards that she made herself disappear. Hers was much faster than yours, Crash, because she caused so many more preventing events."

"So the past must be kept perfectly intact in order for the future to come true," Knuckles whispered.

"Precisely," Shade said. She turned to her companion. "Is there more to this? Please, I'd like to know if there's anything else. You didn't tell me much."

"Don't worry," said Tikal, "everything will become clear in a moment. But Genesis does not have much longer, I'm afraid. Look, her light is fading."

It was true. The light the emerald was shining was fading quickly, and a large black shape could be seen struggling against its holds.

"She's taking shape!" Shade exclaimed. "We're going to need to find the emerald shards if you want to stay alive, Crash."

Crash's eyes widened further. "What do you mean?! Am I going to end up like... like HER?!"

"Well, it's possible," Tikal said. "I should tell you about that."

"Well, what else is there?" Clementine snapped. "This is already confusing enough!"

"Do you want to know about it or not?" Knuckles barked back.

"All right, let's not argue!" Tikal said, stepping between them.

"You're depleting her disappearing time as you speak!" Shade hollered.

When the two were quiet, Tikal began. "Thank you, Shade. All right. I will explain this matter to you in as much detail as I can, and I do not want to repeat myself. You children, who come from twenty-three years from today, are in danger of disappearing forever. One by one, you will all be captured by an emerald shard from oldest to youngest, until the emerald is complete and it can capture you as a whole. On the chance that you are taken into the emerald, your age will decrease until you are no longer alive, and you will be erased from existence forever. Even if your friends go back to your time, you will not. If, however, your companions manage to get to their own time before you go away completely, you will get out of the Master Emerald at the age you stopped shrinking."

"But if we can use the whole Master Emerald to put them back where they came from," Knuckles clarified, "I suppose we can use whatever method Crash used to come here to have whoever came here go back there?"

Everyone was silent as Tikal and Shade tried to process what the crimson echidna had just said. "I guess..." Shade replied hesitantly.

"Wow," Clementine said. "So if Crash is next..." She began to count with her fingers. "That means next will be Luna... then Justice... then Dash... then ME!" She gasped. "We've got to get these pieces back together! Tikal, do you know where the pieces are?"

"I am a part of the emerald," Tikal said. "I know all about it."

"Good," Knuckles said, "because I'm not sure I can see it right now."

"Lead the way," Shade said, making way for Tikal. "Now, tell me about yourselves. What's life like where you come from?" The question was directed towards both Crash and Clementine, but she was mainly focusing on Crash.

"All right," Tikal sighed, picking up Genesis's shard. "I suppose I don't want you to die. Let us go and find those shards. Hopefully Crash will not have been captured by then."

**********

"...And that's when I met you," Tails said, continuing to bang two stones together right next to Zach's ear. "Which brings us right where we are now! Now, pay attention, kid! Come on!"

Amy rolled her eyes. "I could hardly even hear your story, Tails. Now stop it! He's probably just tired or something and doesn't feel like paying attention to you."

"Oh, fine," he said, dropping the rocks. "But I'm keeping my eye on him. Obviously, there's something wrong with him, and I'm determined to find out what."

Justice and Dash glanced at each other, but said nothing. Tyler was staring at the rocks, trying to contemplate why the fox would be banging rocks next to Zach's ear in the first place.

"You know, I'm amazed at Tyler's behavior," Amy commented, looking back at Justice. "We haven't heard him-"

Just then, Tyler's eyes began to water. His lip quivered for a moment, and he burst into tears.

"...Cry ...once..." Amy finished, sighing.

Tails slapped his forehead. "Oh, great! We've got a bawling baby on our hands and we don't know how to deal with it!"

"Whoever said we didn't know what to do?" Dash asked, tossing the emerald shard back and forth between himself. "I say that he's hungry. Who's got food?"

Amy grimaced. "As hungry as we ALL are, we've got no food. Now, find a way to get him to be quiet!"

Justice came closer to the pink hedgehog. "You're his mom! You figure out what to do!"

Meanwhile, Rouge was still watching from the trees above the group, but she was holding her ears closed with her hands in an attempt to block out Tyler's shrieks. "Shut up!" she growled, closing her eyes. "I'll break my eardrum at the rate that kid's going!"

Opening her eyes, she spotted something hanging from a tree branch not far off from where she was - an acorn. Stealthily jumping from her current tree to the acorn, she grabbed it and hurled it at Tyler.

However, the baby's crying must have made her aim slightly off, because instead of hitting Tyler, she hit Tails right on his forehead.

Suddenly, Tyler stopped crying. He began to laugh when he saw the acorn hit Tails's head. Everyone in the small group stared upward.

"Where'd that come from?" Tails wondered.

"Beats me," Dash said with a shrug. "The trees, most likely. Looks like they're oak trees. But look! Tyler's stopped crying! And we've got food now!" He snatched the acorn up from off the ground, and before anyone could stop him, popped it into his mouth. As he chewed, his face took on a disgusted expression and he spit out the bits of acorn he had eaten. "Don't eat those," he advised everyone.

Tyler began to laugh even harder, and Rouge began to form a plan. It was a simple plan, but she believed it would work. Spying more acorns, she gathered them, her eyes locked on Tails. If she continued to throw the acorns at him, she'd get the child to shut up, she'd trail them all to Angel Island, and she'd get to have some fun while doing it. She'd kill THREE birds with one stone!

Grinning evilly, she plucked another acorn and hurled it directly at Tails. This time, her aim was right, and she hit him on the head.

"All right, who's doing that?" Tails demanded, looking upward. "Huh? I know you're up there! Don't make me go get you!"

"Tails, relax," said Amy, "I'm sure it's just the acorns falling. Now let's go on to find those two. We've got to get to Angel Island. The sooner we can get back to Sonic, the better."

Tails looked confused. "But I thought you said... oh, never mind. OW! Stupid trees..." He rubbed his head as he was hit with another acorn. Tails was still suspicious about what was up in the trees, but he said nothing.

So the group continued their journey, with Tails being pelted by acorns with Rouge. The trip was starting to become filled with Tyler's laughter, but Zach stayed silent. No one seemed to notice, though. They were just eager to get their objective done.

**********

"I don't believe this," Arick said, throwing his hands into the air. "Our search for Genesis brought us to a freaking RIVER? Really?"

It was true. After walking (or in their case, flying) for about fifteen minutes, the group had reached a wide river with a fast current. There was nothing to do but go over it.

"All right. Fine. I'll go over first," Arick said, already beginning to fly over it. "Aithne, you follow. Uh... Silver, you fly over with us. And take... Blaze with you." He was trying hard not to call them "Mom" and "Dad," but he was successful.

Silver nodded and began to cross, but he noticed Aithne sit down beside the river. Curious, he instructed Arick to take Blaze, and he flew over to the girl.

"Hey," he said, sitting down beside her. "What's up?"

Aithne shrugged. "Nothing. This trip's just been a little tiring, that's all."

"'Kay," he replied, crossing his legs. "Listen... I kind of think we got off on the wrong foot. We didn't really have much of a proper meeting. Then again, I haven't had many good meetings..."

She snorted. "Haven't we all? I was thinking the same thing."

"I was wondering," Silver began, "if you'd like to tell me what Arick was talking about when he went on about you wanting to be 'normal.' Is there a story to that?"

"Of course there is," she said, glaring at her twin, who was slowly flying over the river. "PICK UP THE PACE!!" she screamed at him.

Silver held his ears shut at her shriek, but continued talking to her. "Well? Can you tell me?"

The twelve-year-old seemed slightly uncomfortable, but she spoke to him anyway. "You know, most people don't even _have_ powers. They can't lift things with their minds or send flames from their hands. I found that out as I was growing up. I made friends, and I realized how weird my life was. Everyone else my age was going to school, and I was trying to go to the future and fighting Genesis and all that stuff. None of my friends are even hybrids. I don't like being different. I want to fit in." She sighed, relived to have taken the stress of_ that _off her chest, and looked to Silver.

The ivory hedgehog had no idea where the speech had come from, but smiled. "So it's a matter of fitting in," he confirmed. "But I'm puzzled as to why you want to. I think I remember something about Blaze not fitting in when we met for the _first _time." He sighed, staring up at the purple feline, who had stopped for some reason above the river and was yelling at Arick. "Now, one more question, because we're going to need to go. Can you tell me about your family? Do you have any other siblings besides Arick?"

Aithne cringed. "Well... I..." She turned to him, uncertainty reflecting in her amber eyes. "I want to tell you about that. There... there's something you should probably know. But I'm not sure I should talk about it. I don't really know how to tell you, and... well, being who you are right now, I'm not sure how you'll take it."

"Uh... what?"

"Silver!" Blaze's voice called out from above the water. The two had stopped long before, and were now only staring at Silver and Aithne, waiting for them to join. "Aren't you coming?"

"Just give us a few minutes!" he shouted back. "Well, if I should know, I think we can ignore that. What's there to know?"

Aithne didn't look reassured, but she sighed and began to talk. "When I was six, Mom was having another baby." Her voice was already beginning to shake out of nervousness.

"So you've got another sibling?" Silver asked, his eyes wide. "Who are they? What's their name?"

"Will you let me finish?" Aithne asked, glaring at him. "Yes, Mom was having a baby, and we were all excited." Her expression softened, and she sighed. "It was probably one of the better times of my life. Mom was going through all this pregnancy stuff, and everything was just... normal, for once."

"Yeah, I could see how you'd like that," Silver said. "Go on. I want to know about this kid."

Aithne tossed a stone into the river with her psychokinesis. "That's it."

Sliver looked confused. "That's it? What do you mean, that's it?"

Aithne stood up and began to walk towards the river, with Silver in tow. "I mean, that's it."

"But that can't be it!" Silver shouted, flying up with Aithne over the river. "There's got to be more! When was the kid born? What's their name? What are they LIKE?"

The hedgecat sighed. "Silver," she began with no trouble, "the baby was never born. Mom had a miscarriage. That's it."

Her words made Silver's blood run cold. "A... a... really?" He had no idea what to say. He couldn't tell whether he should be sorry for the girl - she had only been six when it happened - or if he should feel scared for himself, because the unborn child could be Blaze and his in a matter of time.

Aithne looked to Silver mournfully. "You've got to understand just how hard it is for Mom to have kids. I'd say that Arick and I are lucky to even be alive. I mean, half of her body - half of _my_ body - is _on fire_. You can't have kids easily when that's how you're made."

Still slightly stunned, Silver nodded solemnly. He said nothing more, still trying to process the news. They were approaching Blaze and Arick quickly, anyway.

"There you are," Blaze said, grabbing Silver's hand. "Now let's get going. Honestly, we've been just floating up here for nearly five minutes! What were you two talking about that couldn't wait until you got up here?"

"Well," he said, grabbing hold of his friend as Arick released her, "it was..." He glanced up at Aithne, who was staring at him with an look that he couldn't identify. "You know, she just had a lot on her mind. She just needed someone to vent to."

"If you say so."

Arick flew towards the two. "Okay, now that we're all through with this holdup, how about we stop with this stuff and get going?"

Silver nodded and let go of Blaze, levitating her so they could continue the cross above the water. "...What?" he asked, confused by the look Blaze was giving him.

"...Nothing," she replied. To herself, she muttered, "He's so naïve."

"You two," Arick pointed to Aithne and Silver, "have been stalling this thing. You've made this stupid river cross more than ten minutes long! It's not supposed to take that long to cross a freaking river! Now, we've sat here waiting for you for a while now. We're wasting time just sitting here talking! ...Aw, crap, now I'M stalling! Come on, let's go!" He turned and flew off towards the edge of the river as fast as he could go.

"Hey, genius," Aithne said, crossing her arms. "We're supposed to go _that_ way." She pointed in the opposite direction he was flying.

Arick stopped. He stiffened, but he whirled around and rushed past the other three. "I knew that!"

Blaze sighed. "He's right. And please, Silver, just get me back to the ground, fast. I don't like floating so high above a river, of all things."

Silver nodded and sped towards the edge, carrying Blaze with him. Aithne followed, although more slowly than them.

_I suppose I'm right,_ she thought to herself. _We're lucky to be alive._

**********

"I wonder what's going to happen when we find the rest of the shards," Cream wondered. "How will everyone know that we've found everything?"

"Chao, chao," Cheese said in the same questioning manner.

Sonic shrugged. "We'll know somehow. I don't know how, but we'll know. It just does stuff like that."

"Well, let's do it soon," Luna scoffed. "I'm starting to hate all three of you."

Shadow glared. "You're not exactly the life of the party, either."

"Nope! That would be me!" Sonic said, jumping in between the two. Annoyed, Shadow punched his rival, causing Sonic to stagger sideways. The cobalt hedgehog frowned at his attacker. "Hey, no need to get pushy, Shads."

Shadow clenched his jaw. "Don't call me Shads."

Sonic shrugged. "Okay, Shads. Hey, Luna, you still got that Chaos Emerald?"

Luna reached into her utility belt and pulled out the crimson emerald. "Yeah. Why?"

"Just checking. I was kinda thinking you'd lost it or something."

The hedge-bat glowered. "I never lose my valuables. I wouldn't be a good treasure hunter if I didn't know how to keep track of my things. Why, I even have-"

"What do you mean _your _stuff?" Cream asked innocently. "Don't you steal stuff? Stealing doesn't make it yours. It's someone else's. You're just saying you own it to not get in trouble or something."

Luna grunted. "Well, it doesn't sound as cool when you put it_ that_ way."

"Well, it's not - OOF!" Cream ran into Sonic, who had stopped moving. "Mr. Sonic? Why'd you stop?"

Sonic's mouth had dropped open in disbelief. His emerald green eyes were wide, and he was staring straight ahead. His arms were limp at his sides, but they immediately stiffened and were slowly rising to his face, his fingers slightly curled in agony.

"What?" Luna asked. "What is... oh, crap." She, too, noticed what Sonic was gawking at.

Although Cream and Shadow felt no annoyance or disbelief, they did question why their journey had brought them to that location. The trip had taken Sonic and Luna in a circle.

They had somehow returned to the fallen Angel Island.

Unable to bear the fact that he had come right back to where he started, Sonic howled in fury. "_**OH, COME ON**_!!!"

----------

**And there you have it. I'm just glad I got some of that off my chest.**

**I'm actually glad this one took less time to update than the last. But I'm kind of unsure of what feedback I'm going to get...**

**So, yeah. Thanks for reading. R&R if you can.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Once again, a really slow update. I am _SO_ sorry. I tried to update, but you just couldn't imagine the writer's block I've had on this fic. Plus, I have a computer virus invading the one I usually use, so I'm not getting on as much anymore. If this chapter sucks, please don't be too hard on me.**

**Also, there was a mix-up when I tried to fix a few chapters of this story. Apparently, the first chapter somehow got deleted when I replaced the chapters with the edited versions. I saved it nowhere, so I had to write it all over again. I have learned my lesson and have saved the rest of this story, but of you notice something out of place (such as a chapter), please don't hesitate to notify me.**

***UPDATE! PLEASE LISTEN!* Okay. When I posted this chapter last night, I noticed a mistake in the plot upon re-reading it. Unfortunately, I couldn't fix it until today, so obviously, thousands of people saw it. The mistake wasn't HUGE, thank goodness, so it was easy to fix. It was just a case of mistaken identity - I pinned something on one character that I originally wanted to pin on another. I apologize for the mistake. I will do my best to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again.  
**

**Well, here's the chapter. Enjoy.**

* * *

By nightfall, Tikal had found three more emerald shards, and claimed to sense about four more. Knuckles couldn't be sure if any of the others had found one or more of those shards, but he assumed that they had.

Meanwhile, Crash was developing severe amnesia. He had even forgotten what his own name was at some point, and Tikal warned them all that his time was approaching quickly.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" Clementine asked. "Are we going to go back to Angel Island and see if everyone else has gotten the shards yet?"

"Not quite," a voice threateningly answered. "Actually, you're going to give _me_ those shards!"

Everyone whirled around to face Eggman, who was simply in a pod-like aircraft. The small hovering device didn't look like much. However, most of them had been in battles and witnessed what it could do, and had seen Genesis battle in an aircraft similar to the one he was in, and they knew they shouldn't let their guards down.

"Eggman!" Shade exclaimed, clutching the emerald shard in her hand tighter.

Crash blinked, then smiled. "Hey there! Nice pod ya got there! Did you make it?"

Knuckles groaned. "Not now, Crash..."

There was a silence as a puzzled Eggman tried to figure out exactly why Crash would even make a pitiful attempt such as that to compliment his machinery. He knew the echidna was probably being sarcastic, anyways, which only made him angry. Coming to the conclusion that he was stalling, he said, "Don't you even think about trying to get away with those shards!"

"And why not?" Clementine asked, crossing her arms. "What reason would we have to stay here rather than get out of here faster than you can catch us? Because we can do that, you know." In reality, Clementine really didn't know if she could outrun or even outfly him, but she was willing to take the risk.

Eggman gave them a sinister smile. "Because of this!"

He pressed a button and a mechanical arm stretched out from the pod. In the hand of the arm was a piece of the Master Emerald.

Everyone gasped in horror but Crash, who smiled. "Hey, look! He's got some of the Master Emerald! Aw, tha-"

He was cut off by a whack to the head by Shade. "You idiot!" She whispered. "He's the bad guy, remember?"

Tikal grimaced. "We must get that shard from him. But how?"

Knuckles turned to Shade. "Do you think you could use those powers of yours to get that shard over to us?"

Shade frowned. "I suppose I could try." She lifted up her hand, her eyes on the emerald.

However, Eggman heard this and dropped something down from his pod. "Oh, no you don't! I found this and I'm keeping it! And I'm going to get those you've got! It will be simple, really..." He gave a loud guffaw and grinned maliciously.

Clementine pointed to something on the ground. "What's that?" she asked quietly.

Just as everyone had taken note of the large metal box on the ground, smoke began to seep out of it. Then, it suddenly erupted in a thick cloud of smoke, blocking everyone's view. In a matter of seconds, everyone but Eggman was waving their arms frantically, trying to push the smoke out of their eyes.

It took some time for the thick gray puffs to clear, but when they did, the four echidnas and the young fox-rabbit found a horrible sight.

Eggman was nowhere to be seen. What was even worse was that it looked as though he had taken a few emerald shards with him. Clementine was the only one holding one of the shining green rocks, and she was huddled on the ground, clutching it tightly.

It seemed as though there was absolutely no sound for miles. However, everyone could still hear the sound of Eggman's laughter ringing in their heads mockingly. He had... four emerald shards now, and he could very well have more in a matter of time.

Knuckles gave a cry of rage and pounded the ground with his fists. "_AAARGH!_ Can't he just take it easy on the Master Emerald _for once_? He's got enough stuff already, doesn't he?"

Shade rushed over to Knuckles. "I'm sorry! I tried to get that shard, but I don't think I was focused enough!" She curled her fingers, transforming her hands into fists. "We'll get those shards back if it's the last thing we do!"

"And it might be the last thing I do!" Clementine wailed, standing up. "What are we going to do? If that emerald isn't repaired, and quick, Crash and I could be goners!"

Crash rolled his eyes. "Chill out. We'll find... whatever we're looking for."

Clementine sighed. "I sure hope so. Now, which way did Eggman go?"

All four echidnas pointed in different directions at once, simultaneously shouting, "That way!" When they did so, each one glared at the others.

Clementine began to walk in the direction Tikal chose. "I'm going with her. She's helped us so far, hasn't she?"

Crash glowered. "My way's better than hers!"

"Tikal actually has some sense, unlike you!"

"It's not my fault! And I have a little sense, don't I?"

"You wouldn't know what sense was if it hit you in the face!"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Yes it does!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!'

"Does _not_!"

"Does _too_!"

"Shut _up_!" Knuckles screamed at the two.

"Stop fighting!" Tikal demanded. "We're never going to get anywhere if you two are going to argue like this! Now, are we going to find those shards or not?"

Clementine and Crash looked to the ground. "We're gonna find the shards..."

Shade began to walk in the same direction Clementine had begun to walk in. "I'm glad you chose the sensible action. Now, let's get going before that creep finds any more shards."

"Wait up!" Knuckles said, running to catch up with her. "It's my emerald! I should be responsible for finding some shards, too!"

Tikal sighed and took the shard from Clementine. "Come on. We should follow them." When she received a nod from Clementine and a grunt from Crash, she gestured for them to follow her and walked with Knuckles and Shade. "Hey! I know where the shards are! Do you want to find them or not?"

* * *

After what seemed like the hundredth acorn that was hurled at his head, Tails was getting a terrible headache, and was quite annoyed by Amy's constant reassurances that it was only acorns falling. That was obviously not why the acorns were hitting him - they were falling with far too much force for them to just be snapping off of trees. What's more, they weren't falling on anyone else but him.

Nightfall had arrived. Everything was fine for the group, other than the fact that Tyler had become bored again and had begun to tear up, Tails was about ready to burst from annoyance and pain, Dash continuously complained that he was starving, and Amy seemed to have lost her way, though she wouldn't dare to admit it. In truth, they were not fine at all.

Meanwhile, Rouge had run out of acorns to hurl, and the trees seemed to not have any more, either. So, she had resorted to just trailing the group until they got tired. However, she doubted that would happen - it was dark, and only Zach was asleep. Then again, they were babies - she had heard they had irregular sleeping habits...

"At least the acorns have stopped being thrown," Tails muttered, rubbing his head.

"Stop whining!" Amy snapped. "Acorns or no, we've got to get these guys back home!"

Dash sighed and folded his arms. "Make up your mind already," he mumbled under his breath. "Either this is about getting back to Dad quicker or it's about getting us back home. What's your motivation here?"

Tails finally took a good look at his surroundings. "Amy? Where exactly are we?"

"Why, that's an easy question!" Amy took a look at the surroundings as well. "Uh... we're in... um... ah..." Turning to Tails, she grinned sheepishly. "We're on the way to Angel Island! Exactly!"

Dash's eyes immediately took on a faraway look. "You don't know where we are. But if you seek-"

"Would you cut that out?" Justice whacked Dash in the head with her free hand. "You've already freaked her _and_ Dad out with that little act of yours once or twice! The last thing we need is for you to take it up again!"

Dash frowned and crossed his arms. "But I _like_ to freak them out with the act!"

Tyler suddenly burst into tears. Widening her eyes, Amy rushed over, biting her lip. "Oh, great. Not again! Uh... Tails, hit yourself in the head!"

Tails's mouth dropped open. "What? No way! And why me? I don't - OW! Hey!" He turned to Dash, glaring.

Dash grinned, holding his hands behind his back. "What?"

Up in the trees, Rouge's ears had already begun to pound from Tyler's screams. "Shut _up_," she growled through clenched teeth. "It's bad enough I haven't gotten that emerald piece yet. Now the stupid baby's got to start crying, too?"

Amy groaned. "He's not letting up, Justice!"

Justice held the wailing Tyler against her shoulder and began to rub his back. "Well, the thing is boring him! You know, he could just be tired or hungry!"

Amy scowled and held Zach closer, and he was suddenly awakened. The infant looked around and, noticing the tears running down Tyler's face, began to cry as well.

Tails slapped his forehead. "Great. Now what do we do?"

"Uh..." Justice held Tyler up and stared at the crying baby in confusion. "I don't know what to do! I don't know what's bothering him!"

"Well, try to fix that!" Amy scolded. She held Zach in front of her shoulder and began to hum loudly to him. "I don't know how you'd know, but does Zach sleep easy to any songs? Maybe I could-"

"NO!" Justice shouted, startling both Amy and Tails. She plucked Zach out of Amy's arms and replaced him with Tyler. "Sing to him. He seems to like 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' a lot."

"Erm... okay," Amy said, rubbing the baby's back. "But why not Zach? Wouldn't singing have the same effect on him?"

Tails scratched his head. "Yeah... I know he hasn't been responsive to noise, but he could at least sleep to music, right? Unless that keeps him up, of course, which I highly doubt..."

Dash frowned. "Wow. You're slow."

Justice glared at Tails and Amy. "No! Zach is _deaf_, you morons! Honestly, how much proof do you need?"

* * *

Upon reaching the land, Aithne and Arick had begun to argue once again.

"If you didn't have to sit there and get Dad to start chatting with you," Arick ranted, "we'd have covered a lot more ground in that time. Heck, we'd have probably already found another emerald shard by now!"

Aithne gritted her teeth. "Would you just let it go, already? It's no big deal! Why are you always freaking out about the smallest things?"

Arick snorted. "Me? Freak out all the time? Who's the one who always complains about not being 'normal?'"

She threw her hands up. "That's different! It's something I have to live with! And speaking of which, are you not worried about Zach? We're all freaking out about that, and that's not so small!"

"Would you just shut up and listen to what I'm-"

"_ENOUGH!_" Silver hollered at the two, grabbing their shoulders and pushing them away from each other. "What's the matter with you two? Shut up and get along, damn it!"

All four were silent right after his outburst. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of Silver's heavy breathing. That is, until Blaze broke the silence.

"Guys," she said, walking to stand next to Silver, "what's going on? Is there something we should know about?"

The twins remained silent, both staring at the ground with blank expressions on their faces. Neither one looked as if they were going to open their mouths anytime soon.

"All right. Fine. Be that way." Blaze began to walk away, gesturing for Silver to follow her. "You two can talk when you feel like it. And when you do, I expect you to tell us both what we need to know."

The twins followed Silver and Blaze, glaring at each other as they walked.

_Nice going_, Arick thought angrily.

_What are you talking about?_ Aithne thought, glaring harder. _If you hadn't started the stupid argument I wouldn't have said anything._

"What were they talking about?" Blaze wondered out loud. "Who is Zach? And what could be wrong with him, whoever he is?"

Silver sighed. "Well, whatever it is, let's both make sure to find out. After all, who knows what we may be going through years from now?"

* * *

"I still can't believe we went in a full circle," Sonic complained for what seemed to everyone else like the hundredth time.

"Don't worry, Mr. Sonic," Cream reassured him. "This time, we'll be extra-careful."

"Chao, chao!" Cheese said with a nod.

The group made the decision to go in a different direction than Sonic and Luna had started out with. Sonic and Luna had trouble remembering exactly which direction they had taken, however, so the crowd was just hoping that they weren't going to end up going in a full circle with no emerald shards once again.

Sonic turned to Luna. "By the way, if you're such a great treasure hunter and all, how come you haven't found any emerald shards yet? Don't you think you should have found something by now? I mean, we haven't found a single shard! What's your deal?"

Luna scowled. "I don't know. I guess traveling with you all has made me a little less... knowledgeable about my treasure hunting skills."

Sonic smirked. "Meaning, you're getting stupider just by talking to us?"

"Shut up."

Cream had gone to Shadow's side and was making an attempt to start a conversation. "Mr. Shadow? If all this is true, and our future children came here to us, do you think Luna's your daughter?"

Shadow sighed. "I'm not sure. If this is true... well, it's plausible, I suppose." He looked down at Cream, wearing an expression that asked her just why she was so curious about the matter.

Cream nodded and swiftly changed the subject. "If you and Luna have Chaos Emeralds, don't you think you could use them to figure out where the Master Emerald pieces are?"

Shadow shrugged. "Well, if the Master Emerald is broken, the emeralds probably aren't connected to it anymore. If we put the Master Emerald back together, I hear it's able to control all the Chaos Emeralds. So, what you're saying would be reversed. You would be able to use the Master Emerald to find the Chaos Emeralds."

"Oh." Cream was silent for a moment, staring at the ground. Then, she looked back up at Shadow with a curious expression. "Mr. Shadow, I don't mean to be rude, but... well... why are you so... distant all the time? I think you would be a lot happier if you were nice."

Shadow stiffened. "Why do you need to know that?"

Cream frowned, giving Shadow a pitiful look. "I'm sorry. I was only asking. I just think that if you were nice to people, you wouldn't be so distant. You would be happy, like me."

Why the young rabbit was bringing the subject up at that moment in time, he would never know. But there was something he found in her brown eyes, her innocent curiosity, her... kindness...

"Mr. Shadow?" Cream waved a hand in front of his face. "Are you there, Mr. Shadow? Hello?"

"Chao, chao, chao?" Cheese flew in front of Shadow's face and began to wave his arms. It was no use, however - Shadow was lost in thought.

Cream sighed. "I made him feel bad, Cheese. I knew I shouldn't have said anything."

"Hey, Shads?" Sonic asked, leaning over to his rival. "If one of us gets tired and falls asleep while walking, what're we going to do? Where will they sleep while we're walking?"

Shadow was still lost, however. "Maria..."

Sonic's eyes widened in shock and confusion. "Your _what_ now?"

"Hey, you guys!" Luna flicked Sonic in the head and shook Shadow's shoulders wildly. "I think you should take a look at this." She pointed to the sky.

Sonic, Shadow, Cream, and Cheese all looked in the direction she was pointing. Flying in front of the moon was a huge airship, looking as though it had been built from scrap metal.

Shadow glared. "Eggman."

Luna frowned at him. "How can you be sure? It could be Genesis for all we know."

Sonic stared at her. "Who's Genesis? Is that one of your evil comrades?"

"It's definitely Eggman," Shadow said, not taking his eyes off the aircraft. "I recognize that ship."

Sonic swung Cream over his back, as she grabbed Cheese and placed him on her back. "C'mon, guys!" the cobalt hedgehog said, gesturing towards the ship. "We're going to find out what he's up to!"

* * *

**I am so glad I finally got around to updating this. Hopefully the next update won't take as long. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Why hello there.**

**Let me cut to the chase. Yes, I realize I haven't updated in like, two or three years. I know, I suck. And I'm sorry.**

**But I got to thinking about how I hadn't been on this site in a while, and how I had so many unfinished and unpublished fics here. I want to finish what I started, and maybe begin (and finish) some new things. So, here I am.**

**I have also reread this story. Ah, plotholes. How I've not missed you. I apologize for inconsistencies in this fic. This story began quite a while back. I do hope my writing has improved since then.**

**Thank you for your patience if you provided it. If you are new to this fic, welcome! I hope I will keep up this updating thing for as long as I can. Hopefully, all of this will be worth the long, long wait.**

**Now, enough of my rambling. I'll attempt to complete this story as I meant to.**

* * *

As the night continued on, two more shards had been found. However, Clementine and the four echidnas were still attempting to track down Eggman, with little success. Tikal wasn't able to sense the shards that had been captured, and they had been mainly focused on finding them for quite a while.

"Your senses get any stronger yet, Tikal?" Knuckles asked nonchalantly.

Tikal shook her head. "Not since the last shard we found. Have you been looking as well? Just if my senses are not working properly?"

"I've been looking," he confirmed. "But I can't find anything."

"Me neither," Clementine said, poking her head out of a nearby bush.

Shade shook her head from a few yards ahead. "Neither have I."

Crash blinked, having simply followed Knuckles since the last shard they found. "What are we looking for, again?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Just look for stuff that's green, shiny and not a plant."

He nodded eagerly and began to swivel his head in search of the shiny green object that was not a plant. "How will we know when we find it?"

"You'll know. Trust me."

This went on for a while, until Tikal gasped and began to run a bit faster. "I'm sensing a shard! It's this way!"

"What? Really?" The proclamation caught Knuckles off guard, but he and the rest of the group quickly began to follow Tikal's new path. She seemed more determined than before now that she'd begun to sense a shard.

The echidnas and Clementine ran with Tikal's senses for a while, until she slowed to a stop, bringing the other four to a halt as well. She stared ahead, bearing a confused expression.

"What's wrong?" Shade asked, concerned by Tikal's actions.

"The shard... It's moving." Tikal looked in the direction of her senses, slightly confused.

Clementine frowned. "Do you think it's Eggman?"

She shook her head. "No. It's moving too slow to be him... Do you have more people looking for the shards?" She and Shade stared questioningly at Knuckles, Clementine and Crash. The former two nodded in approval, while the latter simply stared at her and asked what she was talking about.

"So you think it's another person?" Knuckles asked. "Hopefully someone we know has found the shard and not some stranger."

"Let's hope," Shade agreed. "Well, if we're going to get it, we might as well do so."

"Right," Tikal said, nodding. She gestured for the others to follow. "We'll find out what's going on once we get to the shard. Let's go."

* * *

Amy stopped rubbing Tyler's back, whose wails had stopped, unlike Zach's. Tails could do nothing but stare at the crying infant in Justice's arms. The light blue hedgehog herself could be heard breathing a bit heavier than usual. Dash wore the same frown as before Justice's outburst.

Nobody said anything for some time. Rouge was intrigued by the moment. _This ought to be interesting. Maybe this is my chance..._

Tails was the one to end the pause. "Oh... I... That makes sense."

Amy's gaze turned towards the child in question. "I... we didn't know. How could we not have known?"

Justice sighed. "Aw, man. I just made this really awkward."

"No," Tails interjected, "we just can't believe we never thought of that. I mean, it's almost obvious now that I think about it."

Dash rolled his eyes. "They've told us so many times it's not a big deal. And here you go, acting like it's a huge deal. Seriously, Justice..."

"You couldn't have known," Justice said to Tails and Amy before turning to Dash. "And how can I not act like it's not a big deal? How can anyone not? He could be in danger later in life because he can't hear!"

"So what, being deaf makes him useless or something?" Dash asked bitterly. "He can still communicate with others, and he's shown that he has powers so he can get out of danger if he needs to."

"He has a point," Amy said. "Just because he's at a bit of a disadvantage doesn't mean he can't do anything."

Justice grimaced. "I never said he couldn't."

Tails decided he'd add his own thoughts. "Hey guys, why are we all arguing over someone else's kid? I mean, don't get me wrong, this _is_ kind of a shock, but... arguing over him just seems kinda silly to me."

Amy nodded at Tails. "He also has a point."

At this point, Zach had stopped crying. Justice was still clinging to him, much like Amy was clinging to Tyler. Tails crossed his arms in an almost impatient manner as Dash began to speak. "Anyway, what are we doing, sitting around here worrying about Zach? He can be fussed over later. Right now, we've got to take this shard and... uh-oh."

"What? What is it?" Tails asked as an uneasy feeling settled on the group.

Dash looked behind him, ruffled his quills, looked in the shrubbery around him, and finally faced the rest of the group. "It seems that I've lost the shard."

"You _what_?" Amy screamed, going into a panic. "Dash!"

"How do you lose something like that?" Tails asked frantically. "It's huge and vital to our mission! I mean - hey!" He pointed to the rustling treetops. "What's that?"

Whatever was in the trees, it was moving quickly. "Do you think it was taken?" Justice asked, staring after it.

"There's only one way to find out!" Tails said. His namesake began spinning, allowing him to take flight. "Come on! Let's see if we can catch whoever this is!"

Meanwhile, Rouge was half flying, half jumping through the trees, her new treasure in her clutches. _It's about time! I almost thought I'd be following them forever! _She grinned happily at the large shard she held. _Hello, gorgeous! You'll look absolutely stunning on-_

She was yanked out of her thoughts as Tails grabbed her arms from behind. "Aha! Got you, you thief!"

"Ah! Let me go!" Rouge cried, struggling to get out of the eight-year old's grip as he began lifting her from her position. However, in her struggle, she managed to drop the emerald shard. As the gem fell, Amy handed Tyler off to Dash and dove for it, managing to catch it just before it hit the ground.

Tails and Rouge could only stare after it for a moment, until the bat decided to make a move. She swiftly gave his stomach a kick, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to double over, releasing her. When she went in for another, he grabbed her foot in mid-swing and delivered an uppercut to her face. This made her fall back a bit, allowing him a bit of time to catch his breath.

"Get her, Tails!" Dash shouted from below, grinning widely. Justice cheered him on as well, deciding that she was little more than useless in the battle in the sky, so they might as well do something. Amy, on the other hand, was watching intently, and she gently placed the shard down.

The encouragement was heard by Tails, though he knew that the task of defeating the bat in battle was easier said than done. But hey, at least he could try.

As Rouge flew at him, Tails flew towards her as well. He attempted to kick her, only for her to dodge it and come in from behind, striking him in the back and sending him a few feet downwards. He caught himself, and was soon flying towards her again. This time, when Rouge decided she'd try and punch him, he grabbed her again, this time by the wrist, and swung her so she flew backwards. While she was trying to regain the balance in her wings, he dove for her, giving her a kick himself.

Rouge growled in frustration. _What am I doing? I can't be evenly matched by this kid!_

Suddenly, she felt something hit the back of her head with an immensely large amount of force. Her vision began to fade, and her wings failed her as she tried to remain in flight, but ended up falling to the ground. Tails, on the other hand, couldn't help but grin at the sight of a large yellow and red piko-piko hammer smashing Rouge from behind, causing her to plummet down from the air.

He floated down to the ground and landed softly. "Thanks for that, Amy. I don't know long that would've gone on for if you hadn't hit her like that."

Amy held her hammer proudly in one hand and the emerald shard in the other. "Sure thing, Tails. Now, let's see what Rouge has to say for herself!"

Dash rushed over to the fallen bat, who was rubbing her head and groaning. "Have you been following us around?" he asked obnoxiously, leaning in while still holding Tyler.

Justice walked over as well. "Perhaps she was. It would explain the sneak attack."

Amy placed her hands on her hips as Rouge came back to her senses. "It wouldn't surprise me if she was. She's prone to such things, I'm afraid."

"Wait a minute..." Tails gave Rouge a glare, a small thought forming in his mind. He began speaking directly to her, despite her only just having fully recovered from the beating her head took only moments ago. "Are_ you_ the one who's been hurling acorns at my head? I've still got a headache from that! I oughta-"

"I think you already have," Amy said, a smirk present on her face as Rouge gave an expression that presented her dissatisfaction concerning her defeat.

Before anyone could do anything, however, something burst from the plant life near the group. Amy and Tails took a stance, ready to fight, and Justice and Dash prepared to do so as well, only to find familiar faces.

"Knuckles? Clementine?" Amy asked incredulously.

"You have new people!" Tails cried, getting swatted on the head by Amy for being Captain Obvious.

"Amy! Tails! Uh... you guys!" Knuckles cried, trying to include everyone in his introductory cry. "Who's that?" he asked, gesturing to Zach, whom Justice was still holding. His gaze turned to Rouge, who had just risen from her spot on the ground. "What's _she_ doing here?"

Tikal frowned. "The shard is right there and he's focusing on these people?" Her remark was accentuated by a duo of sighs from Clementine and Shade.

Crash, on the other hand, stepped forward. "Who are these people?" He turned around to look back at the group he came from. "Who are _these_ people? Is there anyone I know around here?"

"I think both of us have things to explain to each other," Amy said, grabbing Rouge's arm as she tried to make her escape. "Now, how about you start? I have a feeling this is going to be a long story."

* * *

"So... where are we?"

Silver stopped in his tracks in response to Arick's question, followed by Blaze and the twins. "Um..." He looked around. Obviously, he had no idea, and quickly said so.

"I haven't the slightest idea myself," Blaze said, placing a hand to her head. "Wonderful."

"Hey! I wasn't aware we were leading this group!" he cried, despite them both being the ones Aithne and Arick had been blatantly following the entire time.

"At least we found one of these things on the way," Aithne pointed out, holding up a piece of the Master Emerald. "Now we've got two total. That's something, right?"

"What do we need those for?" Silver asked, intrigued by the gems.

The girl frowned. "I... don't know."

Arick was obviously confused. "Say, when did we take to finding these things, anyway? All _we_ know is that they're pieces of the Master Emerald..."

A pause took effect until Blaze decided to speak. "Well, now that we've unanimously come to a stop, do you two mind explaining just what's been going on?"

"What?" Aithne was taken aback, until she realized what the cat was saying. "Oh. You haven't forgotten that, have you?"

Arick sighed. "We might as well. They'll find out eventually."

Silver and Blaze stared at the twins expectantly as they launched into a short explanation about their younger brother. They explained their situation about how they didn't know whether Zach had been transported with them or not, which they had been trying to find out.

"That's basically it," Arick finished, shrugging.

Silver and Blaze stared incredulously. "So, let me get this straight," Silver said. "You mean to tell us that you have a sibling - an infant, no less - that may or may not have come here with you... _and you didn't say anything?" _Of course, he had much more to say than that. But he figured that when you may suddenly be on a time crunch to find a small child, words could come later.

Aithne grimaced. "Well, when you put it _that_ way..."

Arick placed a hand to his head. "Look, it's no big deal-"

"No big deal?" Blaze's eyes were wide with shock. "The child could be hurt or worse and you just pass it off as _no big deal_?"

_Now I remember why we didn't want to tell them._ Arick practically hurled the thought at his sister as Silver and Blaze continued shouting at them, which Aithne received in surprise.

_Well, you wanted to tell them_, she responded. _I'm actually kinda glad we did. Maybe we'll have a better chance at finding him with their help._

_I didn't realize this would become a mission._

_I thought that was always our mission..._

"And above all-" Silver stopped in the middle of speaking when he saw a figure emerging from the trees. "Wait, what's that?" he asked, pointing to it.

"What are you - oh." Blaze saw it quickly after Silver did. "It looks like... an airship."

The figure, now that it could be seen more clearly by the group, was quite a far distance away from them. It appeared to be a fairly large airship that was moving at a very slow speed through the night sky.

"Eggman?" Silver was almost doubtful about the ship's appearance. "What's he doing here?"

Arick shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe it's got something to do with us? We _are_ from the future, after all."

Blaze narrowed her eyes at the ship. "But... he doesn't know about that. It just wouldn't make sense."

Aithne smirked. "So you're starting to believe us?"

"That's not the point," Silver retorted at the same time Blaze came back with, "Now's not the time for that."

Arick squinted and floated a few feet in the air to get a better view. "Maybe we should see what this guy's deal is."

"What about your brother?" Blaze asked. "Aren't you even the slightest bit concerned for his safety?"

"Well, what if this other guy has him?" Aithne suggested, receiving a dramatic sigh from Arick.

"That's ridiculous!" Silver cried. "He has no immediate use for him. Besides, who knows where the kid... Zach, was it? Yeah, Zach. Who knows where he could be? He's probably not up there!"

"Sorry for suggesting something," Aithne muttered.

Arick shrugged. "He could at least be on the way there. Can't hurt to try, right?" With that, he flew in the direction of the airship.

Silver flew after him as he sped off. "Hey! Wait up! We're not done back here!"

"Arick, you idiot!" Aithne called after her twin brother. "Come back! They have a point, you know!"

Blaze groaned. "Oh... Come on." She and Aithne began following the other two. "I've got a feeling that we're about to get ourselves into more trouble."

* * *

"Mr. Sonic?" Cream questioned the blue hedgehog amid their miniature journey towards Eggman's ship. "What are we going to do when we get close to Eggman?"

"That's a good question," he replied. "I was kinda hoping we could get away with winging it."

"Winging what?" the rabbit asked innocently, accompanied by a few squeals from Cheese.

He chuckled. "Just making up a plan as we go. But now that you mention it, I think that if he attacks us then we'll fight back and see what we can do with him."

"But what if he doesn't try to hurt us?"

"Then we don't do anything. Unless we feel like something's up. Then we go on the offense."

Cream accepted the plan as decent and stared up at the quickly approaching airship. Following closely were Shadow and Luna, both of whom were wondering what exactly was about to take place.

"How exactly does this 'Eggman' behave?" Luna asked Shadow curiously while flying alongside him. "I've heard of him, certainly, but there's never been a time when I've actually met him."

Shadow's first response was a shrug. "The man's insane, but he's a genius."

"So I've heard." She glared ahead at the heap of metal they were closing in on. "Mom mentioned him a few times. She said he was dangerous to all but the smartest of people. And we're the smartest."

He gave a quiet grunt in response to her comment. "Sounds a bit like her."

She snorted. "Of course it does. You should hear what she says about everyone else in the world."

"I can only imagine."

The scoff had an admiring tone to it. On that note, Luna decided not to describe what Rouge said about her father most of the time, in case it was possible that he was that man. Of course, he could just as easily think that such an idea was ridiculous. But the thought that she could have possibly finally found the person she'd searched so long for had seemed to appear from Shadow's words. She didn't want to let that slip away just yet.

They all halted just underneath the airship. Cream hopped off of Sonic's back, staring up at the ship in awe. "It's so much bigger from up close!"

"Chao, chao!" Cheese concurred, a determined look on his tiny blue face.

"Do you intend to crush this thing yourself, Cheese?" Sonic asked jokingly. The chao seemed puzzled by his remark, but before anyone could say anything else, a voice came from the ship.

"Not you again!" Eggman was quite obviously annoyed with their appearance, especially Sonic's. "You idiotic blue hedgehog!"

"Well, I _am_ a blue hedgehog, but idiotic? Please." Sonic grinned in delight at their exchange. "You're gonna have to be a little more imaginative than that, Egghead."

Cream and Cheese had practically glued themselves to the hero upon hearing Eggman's voice, while Luna could only mutter about wasting energy. Shadow glowered at the interaction between the doctor and his fellow hedgehog. "Sonic, there may be a time and place for banter, but now is probably not it."

A growl was heard from the ship. "Tell me something, Sonic. If you had the choice between imagination and obliterating your nemesis, which would you choose?"

"Huh? Well..." Sonic stared up at the ship quizzically. "I can get very _creative_ in my ways of destroying your stuff..."

Eggman gave an amused guffaw. "I prefer a more... _traditional_ plan of attack."

Luna groaned. "Get to the point, already!"

"Gladly!" Eggman replied, laughing. A set of large missile launchers appeared and began firing almost immediately. The first shot nearly hit Sonic, Cream and Cheese, who moved just before it hit the ground and sent shrapnel and dirt flying.

Luna pulled out the Chaos Emerald and tossed it to Shadow. He caught it and glanced at her, but decided not to question her decision and simply nodded as if they had agreed on something telepathically. She then took to the sky as missiles began raining down their much smaller targets. Shadow began using Chaos Spears to destroy the launchers.

After dodging a number of missiles, Sonic realized what was taking place. "Hey, Cream!" he called to the young rabbit next to him, who had decided it would be best for their mobility if she clung to Cheese only. Having caught her attention, he pointed up at the area Shadow was attacking. "Think you can fly us up there?"

Cream gazed up at the nearly destroyed area, whether in fear or amazement that Shadow had done so much damage so quickly Sonic couldn't tell. After a missile from one of the remaining launchers nearly hit her, she snapped back to Sonic. "Okay, Mr. Sonic!" she replied.

She began flapping her large ears and, once she was in the air, grabbed a hold of Sonic and began their ascent. Shadow continued bombarding the airship with Chaos Spears as Eggman raged about how he wasn't finished with them, that they had another thing coming, that it wasn't over, etcetera. The blue hedgehog was scanning the ship for a weak spot as his counterpart kept weakening it.

Luna soon met up with them. "I can't determine a weak spot," she said, dodging a missile as she flew to Sonic and Cream's side.

"I think I've got an idea," Sonic said with a grin. "Shadow!"

He was low enough so Shadow could hear, allowing for a quick response from him. "What do you want?" he shouted back, firing another Chaos Spear. "I'm busy!"

Sonic nodded at the ship. "Make a hole!"

"What? That's not our objective here!"

"Just trust me!"

Luna glared at him. "What are you doing? All that's going to do is make a hole in... Wait..." She began putting the pieces together in her head.

"Mr. Sonic knows what he's doing!" Cream defended her cargo, along with Cheese. "What are we doing next, Mr. Sonic?"

A high-pitched tearing noise was emitted from the ship as Shadow tore a hole in it. One of Sonic's hands let go of Cream to give Shadow a thumbs-up; his only response was a nod.

"You imbeciles!" Eggman cried, outraged. "What on earth was that for? I won't stand for an invasion!"

Sonic turned his gaze to the young girl carrying him. He actually had _no idea_ what he was doing, but he figured that if Shadow was taking care of the ship outside, he might as well cause some internal damage. "Take me to the hole, Cream!"

She nodded and flew towards the torn ship, dodging one of Shadow's Chaos Spears as she went. Luna soon followed, her eyes narrowed and focused on their goal. When they got fairly close, however, five smaller guns appeared near it and began firing rapidly at the three.

Eggman's laugh could be heard much louder than before. "You fools! This ship is loaded with guns. Absolutely loaded! You'll never get in!"

Sonic was being tossed around by Cream, who was trying desperately to avoid the bullets with Luna. "Toss me in!" he cried.

"What?" Cream was appalled. "But what if you get hit?"

"I'll be fine! Just do it!" Sonic insisted.

After much hesitation, Cream gave in to Sonic's wish and launched him through the hole. Plenty of bullets grazed his skin, and he landed inside the ship with a _thud_. He grunted as he got up, thinking for a moment that his split-second decision maybe wasn't the best idea. But then again, he was inside, wasn't he? That was something.

"Hey guys!" Sonic called to Cream and Luna. "We can take this ship down from the inside or the outside! But hey, Eggman's going down one way or another!"

* * *

**Thank you for your time.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello again! Well, obviously this update didn't take quite as long as the last. Like I said, I intend to finish this.**

**This is a bit of a shorter chapter, but either way, here it is. On with the story!  
**

* * *

Justice almost couldn't believe what she'd been told. "So wait… you're saying that if we don't get back to our time really soon, we might just cease to exist?"

"Not exactly," Tikal replied. "You see, the more you do to alter future events, the more the emerald tries to take you in. Once you're fully in, you regress in age until you are erased from existence."

There was a slight pause before Tails spoke. "I still can't believe that you and Shade are actually here."

His remark was accompanied by nervous laughter from Shade and Tikal. "I'm still not quite sure _why_ I'm here," Shade muttered.

"Well, what're we gonna do?" Dash asked, still carrying Tyler. He pointed at Crash, whose sanity seemed to be slipping further and further away every second. "He doesn't look like he's got too much time."

"And as much as I think it wouldn't be of any help, I don't think we should let Genesis be taken out of existence forever," Knuckles pointed out. "I mean, I don't think you guys would want to be partially responsible for someone disappearing altogether because you lagged behind in a search."

"I guess you're right," Clementine agreed, along with Dash and Justice.

"Excuse me!" Rouge spoke for the first time, placing herself at the center of the group and speaking quite loudly as she did so. "I think I could help you guys out in your little predicament here. After all, I _am_ quite the treasure hunter."

Knuckles glared fiercely at the bat. "Oh yeah? How do we know you won't take the emerald shards for yourself?"

She snorted at his remark. "Come on, now! You don't think I'd do that now, do you?" When her question was accompanied by silence, she sighed. "Look, I want these little brats out of here probably as much as you do."

"Hey!" Dash and Clementine cried simultaneously, as Justice groaned and rolled her eyes. Their distaste was ignored by the rest of them.

Rouge continued with her proposal. "So with another expert in the case, they'd be able to get out of here a bit quicker, wouldn't they? That, and I _would_ be able to get to hold these beauties, even for just a moment…"

Knuckles's glare was joined by a disturbed frown mustered up from Tikal. Justice could only sigh. "Now I can tell where Luna got _everything_."

She was curiously glanced at by Rouge for her remark, but she seemed to brush it off quickly. "So what do you say? Do you have a new partner? Or can I go back to trying to take everything you've got?"

Her strange offer to help was contemplated by the others for a moment, save for Crash, who had taken to simply staring at the scenery. They all exchanged glances of uncertainty as they contemplated the matter.

It was Tikal who finally spoke up in resolution. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give you a chance…"

"What?" Knuckles was taken aback by her decision. "You're crazy!"

"Yeah!" Amy stepped forward, one hand on her hip. "She stalked us for who-knows-how-long just trying to take our shard!"

"_And_ she threw acorns at me!" Tails pointed out.

Justice, Dash and Clementine simply watched the exchange, while Shade continued looking as if she were about to say something and deciding against it. Rouge swept her gaze over the entire group, glowering at each one of them.

Tikal fidgeted under the pressure of their reactions. "I'm sure it will be fine. Even if she does try to steal the shards, I would most likely be able to sense it before she could get too far."

"She does have a point," Shade agreed, nodding towards Tikal.

The bat in question only gave a shrug. "Glad you chose to help yourselves. Even if your intentions aren't the best…"

Justice, Dash and Clementine continued to glare at her in annoyance. Amy and Tails didn't seem to know what to think. Knuckles, Tikal and Shade, however, had already moved on.

Tikal gestured for them to follow. "Come. I am sensing a few shards in this direction."

Rouge took to the sky, her face now bearing a sly smile. Tails and Clementine reluctantly flew after her. The others followed Tikal's directions, hoping that they would soon piece back the emerald so this whole ordeal could be over.

* * *

By the time Silver, Blaze, Aithne and Arick all arrived at the scene, Shadow was the only person they could find. He'd torn off entire portions of the carrier with his repeated Chaos Spear attacks, and was still doing so.

"Shadow!" Silver and Blaze called simultaneously. All four of them ran towards the black hedgehog, who had turned at their voices. Aithne and Arick exchanged glances, but neither said nor thought anything to each other.

"What the... What are _you_ doing here?' Shadow demanded, shooting another Chaos Spear at the ship.

Silver watched as he kept attacking it. "It's a bit of a long story."

"I think I've got a bigger question," Blaze interjected. "What can you tell us about Eggman being here?"

Shadow watched as his projectile sliced off a missile canon. "As far as I can tell, he's either just here to annoy us, or he's somehow found out about this whole situation and is taking full advantage of it... Say, how much about these events do you actually know?"

"Admittedly, not much," Blaze told him.

"Yeah," Silver agreed, staring up at the ship. "All we've seen is that apparently, our future kids are here and they're following us around."

All of them stared at the now somewhat-dormant ship. "Looks like he's distracted," Shadow muttered. He then turned to the other four. "Well evidently, the Master Emerald had something to do with it all. It's been broken, and we're trying to find its pieces so we can put it back together and get everything back to normal."

"So _that's_ why we've been finding these gems!" Arick cried in realization. "They must be emerald shards!"

"How do you know all this?" Silver asked suspiciously.

Shadow narrowed his eyes at him. "Sonic said so. Don't ask me how he knows. I'm just trying to get the situation back to normal. I guess that means fighting the doctor here."

Aithne gawked at him. "Are you the only one out here fighting this thing?" she asked as Arick eyed him suspiciously.

"No," Shadow snapped back at Aithne. "Luna, Sonic and Cream and her chao thing are trying to destroy it from the inside. I'm just wondering what's taking them so long." He turned back to the ship and stiffened at the sight of a set of bullets heading straight for him. Each of them were trapped in midair by Silver, who tossed them away quickly.

Shadow stared at Silver for a moment after this occurred. "...You're welcome?" Silver said, scratching his head.

Blaze decided to ignore the two and went into battle mode; Silver, Aithne and Arick quickly did the same. Shadow only sighed. "All right, then. We'll finish this thing off together. Just remember that there are people inside this carrier."

"Right," Blaze confirmed.

"Hey, by the way," Silver said, remaining beside Shadow, "you wouldn't happen to have seen a baby around here, would you?" When he received a long, exasperated sigh from Shadow in response, he turned his focus back to Eggman's carrier. "Never mind, then..."

_Yeah_, Aithne silently said to her brother. _Just remember, _Luna_ is in there__._

Arick's gaze snapped away from her to the ship, deflecting a missile from what seemed to be the last of the giant canons. _You barely know her and you have something against her now? Honestly, sometimes I just think you're looking for reasons to whine._

She glared at her twin brother as he ran to destroy some threat he spotted. _At least she normally has a reason to use her "powers"_, she thought bitterly, running off in another direction.

* * *

"So what are we supposed to be doing in here again?" Luna asked as she trailed Sonic and Cream.

As he carried the rabbit, Sonic turned to Luna and responded, "We're trying to see if we can take this thing down better from the inside. That and I'm sure he's got something of use in here. He always does. Say, you're a treasure hunter, right? Maybe you can help us find something cool in here."

While clutching Cheese tightly, Cream attempted to get a better look at Luna. "Can we do that fast, please? I never liked being in any of these bad ships..."

She sighed. "Well, it doesn't seem like he would have very many - agh!" Luna was cut off by a sudden tremor that rocked the carrier, sending all of them into the nearest wall.

Once they managed to get their bearings again, they continued on down the corridors. "Okay, new plan," Sonic said. "Get to the control room and make sure this thing comes crashing down as quickly as possible!"

Luna nodded. "Fair enough."

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" Eggman's voice echoed through the chambers of his own ship. "You'll never take my airship down! Not if I have anything to say about it!"

Sonic rolled his eyes as they ran. "Geez, you'd think this is one of his best works. It's just a piece of junk if you ask me."

"Mr. Sonic?" Cream asked, both her and Cheese staring at him. "Where do you think Eggman is?"

He thought about this as they rounded a corner. "If I had to guess, he's either in the control room or already trying to get away."

There was an earsplitting whirring noise as a set of guns appeared lining the hall. Sonic and Luna nearly tripped over their own feet in surprise. "Great," Luna muttered. "What're we going to do?"

After examining the new machinery, Sonic glared down the corridor. "If we're fast enough, we can probably just barrel through here unharmed."

"You're insane!" Luna cried, her hands flying to her head.

Holding a shocked Cream and Cheese closer to him in protection, he chuckled. "Maybe so." He then dashed down the hall headfirst, becoming nothing but a blue streak.

Luna ducked as bullets began flying everywhere. "I guess I've got no choice, then." Gritting her teeth, she quickly followed the blur, shielding herself with her own arms. "How do you know where we're going?" she shouted over the roar of the gunfire.

"As far as I've seen from most of this guy's creations, the ones you can travel in have most of the paths leading to the control room," Sonic replied. "And if that's the case here, then if we keep going through these halls, that's where we should end up."

His intuition proved to be correct. The guns grew less and less frequent, and eventually stopped firing altogether as they came to a giant room. Two huge screens took up most of the opposite wall - one picturing an image outside, and the other with various scenes of the ship's corridors. A massive control dashboard lined the bottom.

Sonic carefully placed Cream on her feet as she let Cheese out of her grasp. "Hey, Egghead! You around here anywhere? Show yourself!"

"Oh, dear. It seems I've been had!" The doctor continued to mock them all even in their presence, emerging from beside the control panel. "Did you enjoy your trip here? I must say, it's not my loveliest achievement, but it's definitely gotten its fair use of firearms now hasn't it?"

Something in the corner of the dull screen-lit room caught Luna's eye. "What the..." Double-checking to make sure the madman was still distracted by the hedgehog and their child-pet companion duo, she inched her way over to the seemingly shiny object.

"You... meanie!" Cream shot the best glare she could. "We could've gotten hurt!"

"Chao!" Cheese snapped, having about the same expression.

If Eggman's eyes were visible, Sonic was certain they would have rolled. "That's the whole point..."

Sonic stepped a bit closer to his arch-enemy. "I just want to know one thing. What exactly do you want _now_?"

The doctor sighed. "I would say I'm glad you asked, but I'm not so sure I am..."

Another blast made the ship rock, causing everyone to fall over. The first to stand again was Sonic, noticing the events taking place on screen. "Is that... Silver? And Blaze? When did they get here?"

Luna, having crashed into a wall, soon saw exactly what she was after. Trapped in a glass tube were four large green emerald shards.

"If this is what he meant by 'cool,' then I think I've found it," Luna whispered to herself. "I can only assume these are the shards we've been looking for." She glanced at the gigantic control panel. "Now, how exactly am I supposed to open this thing?"

"Well, since you asked," the doctor grumbled, oblivious to Luna's discovery, "I've seen you and the new cretins... whatever their names are, I don't care... Well, I've noticed you all are looking for-"

"The Master Emerald shards?" Sonic inquired, unimpressed. "Haven't we seen this scenario about a hundred times before, with the Chaos _and_ Master Emeralds? At this point, I almost feel like Knuckles!"

"Quiet, you! They're still some of my main objects to capture for world domination! Unless I can find something better, I'll be after them!" Breathing a sigh of what could have been exhaustion, he continued. "Yes, that's precisely it. Once I've got them, I'll be able to create something great! There will be nobody to stop me once I gather them all!"

His declaration was followed by yet another convulsion of the ship. Sonic quickly jumped back up and helped Cream and Cheese get their bearings as well. "Someone needs to remind those guys out there that there are people inside this thing..."

Once Eggman was standing again, his attention was directed towards Luna's location. "Hey! Just what do you think you're doing?"

Startled by the fact that she'd been caught, Luna almost didn't notice that she'd broken the glass when she flew into it during the tremor. Slowly rising to her feet, the pounding in her head and broken glass around her signaled that she should probably gather what she'd found and leave.

Sonic was temporarily unable to do anything due to the shock that Luna had found the shards and that Eggman would put them in such an obvious place, but he quickly snapped out of it. Using the few seconds he had in which Eggman was distracted, he managed to catch Luna's attention briefly, signaling for her to take the gems with the assistance of Cream and Cheese and leave.

Figuring that was probably the best option in their situation, Luna complied. In a fluid motion, she swooped up all five gems and tossed some to Cream and Cheese, who successfully caught them, and motioned for them to follow her. At the same time, Sonic charged up a spin dash, releasing it in an attack on the control panel. Sparks flew as he cut through it again and again, followed by buttons and pieces of metal.

Eggman looked back and forth from the door to the quickly deteriorating control panel and back again. After placing his head in one of his hands, he grumbled, "Well, this didn't go quite like I planned it."

The girls and the chao literally flew away with the shards in hand. The constant rain of bullets was replaced by the new sound of an earsplitting alarm. They didn't bother speaking to each other, considering that there was absolutely no way they would be able to even hear their own voices.

They soon came across their exit, though in emerging from the aircraft, they had to dodge a few Chaos Spears, glowing ammo and balls of fire. The slew of attacks ceased momentarily as Luna, Cream and Cheese made their descent to the ground. When they were halfway there, all of them began damaging the ship again, though Luna could've sworn she saw Shadow monitoring them as he hurled Chaos Spears at it.

Cream and Cheese were obviously grateful to be back on the ground again, and even more so to see another familiar face. She called out to Silver and Blaze, giving Aithne and Arick a glance. Luna's flight down was directed towards Shadow, and once they landed, Cream wasted no time running towards the cat and other hedgehog.

It wasn't long before a blue ball burst from within the carrier, along with a somewhat angry Eggman in a pod. Sonic was falling down to the ground in a spin dash; it was Silver who caught him in the air, just before he hit the ground. Mild insults and threats could be heard coming from the doctor above as the ship began its slow, electrifying descent into peril without a captain.

"Well." Shadow watched as it fell, walking with Luna to where everyone else was gathered. "I'm glad that's over."

Sonic paid no mind to the peeved man when he was released from Silver's psychic hold. He instead focused on the newcomers to the group. "So, when did you guys get here?"

"Not long ago," Blaze said. "We saw Eggman from a distance and thought we should take a look at what was going on."

"And then we found Shadow and you guys," Arick finished. "He explained everything to us."

Luna stepped over to stand with Cream and Cheese. "Well, you'll be happy to know that we found some of the shards in the carrier."

"We can see that for ourselves," Shadow muttered. "The question is, what do we do with them at this point?"

An agreement came from Silver. "Yeah, there's not really any way to see if we've got all of the shards."

"Wait a sec... the others who were on Angel Island would probably be looking for the emerald shards, too!" Sonic cried in revelation. "I mean, they wouldn't just sit there and not do anything about it, would they? Heck, Knuckles was on the island!"

"So you're saying we should go look for them?" Blaze asked.

Shadow was already beginning to walk away. "It's a better idea than anyone else could've come up with. Now what're we waiting for? Let's get moving."

He was followed by the rest of the group, now doubled in size. A sense of determination filled them as they went, probably as a result of the discovery of the shards combined with the end of the battle. Perhaps this really would be all over soon.

* * *

**Whew! It's nearly done! Hopefully I'll be able to get this done by the end of this year. I know, I know, I'm pathetic.  
**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you'll stick around for however long this goes for, however it turns out in the end.  
**


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